Her eldest brother was kind enough on the surface, but she never truly felt comfortable around him. Her second brother was always busy studying magic.
“Then... cough! Want me to drag that punk over here and make him apologize on his knees?”
“What kind of stupid idea is that?! He’ll just hate me even more! You idiot!”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“How should I know?! Waaah!”
In the end, the person she always ran to whenever she needed to cry and vent her frustrations was her third brother, Alex.
“I don’t cry over things like that anymore.”
At last, Nailia felt like she understood why Prince Alex had burned Tonio’s letter.
Because I would’ve lost both the man I loved and the friend I cared about.
He must have thought the truth would hurt more than she could bear. Maybe he believed it was better to lose one person than both, even if the relationship left behind was built on a terrible lie.
Of course...
It still hurts.
How could it not? How could anyone walk away from people they had cherished and not feel pain? How could they let go of all those precious memories without an ache in their heart?
“But I can’t keep running to my brother every time I want to cry.”
The coldness in Princess Nailia’s expression gradually melted away.
She had hated Alex for a long time. No matter how many times she asked, he never told her why he had burned the letter.
Then, he left to recover without ever giving her a proper explanation. She had resented him for it more times than she could count.
But...
“You fool.”
It was all for her sake.
Because he didn’t want her to get hurt. Because he couldn’t bear to see her suffer the pain of losing both her lover and her friend at the same time.
He was always like that. Even when they were children, he would quietly hide anything that might hurt her and deal with it himself without letting her know. By the time Nailia learned the truth, everything was already over.
She was furious when she found out and complained endlessly, but...
“You’re still the same, Brother.”
A soft laugh slipped from her lips.
“......”
After watching her in silence, Prince Alex rose from his seat like he had no reason to stay any longer.
Pat.
“......”
Nailia’s eyes widened. Without saying a word, he patted her shoulder as he walked past.
She stared at his retreating back. Slowly, the composure she had been holding onto began to crumble. It felt as if that brief touch had brushed against something buried deep inside her.
The tears came all at once.
“Ugh... hic...”
Her sobs grew louder and louder.
Waaah! Brother!
Just like the seven-year-old girl who used to run to her brother and cry her heart out whenever she was upset.
***
Tap.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Tap... tap, tap.
The one pacing the darkened room while chewing her nails was Aria.
She had fled the Academy before classes were over and rushed straight home. She hadn’t changed out of her torn clothes.
Knock, knock.
A moment later, the door opened and a woman in her late forties stepped inside. It was Aria’s mother.
“Aria.”
Aria stopped in her tracks and shot her a sharp glare.
“Get out.”
“What’s wrong? What happened to your clothes?”
“I said get out!”
Worried about her daughter, who had been cooped up in her room all afternoon, she came to check on her. In the end, she left without getting a single answer.
When Aria was like this, it was best to leave her alone. Otherwise, she might deliberately hurt herself right in front of her parents.
CRASH!
Aria snatched up the vase on the table and hurled it at the door. Even then, her anger refused to settle.
Tap... tap.
A moment later, she was gnawing on her nails again.
“First...”
She needed to claim it had all been fabricated, that every word from the communication orb was part of Ceres’s scheme. There was no other way.
“But how about the letter?”
Should she say that it was forged too? Would anyone believe it? Would Princess Nailia?
“AAAAAH!”
An irritated scream burst from her lips.
“This is all Ceres’s fault!”
Why couldn’t she have just died quietly in that basement? Then none of this would’ve happened to her!
“That b*tch.”
How could she put a friend through something like this? And she still called herself a friend? After everything Aria had done for her!?
CRASH!
Another ornament flew across the room and smashed into the mirror hanging on the wall. Glass rained onto the floor.
Yet even as she watched the shards scatter, her fury showed no sign of fading. Her breathing remained fast and uneven.
“Is the act finally over?”
“—!”
Aria’s head snapped toward the window. The voice was unfamiliar.
“H-How...?”
As soon as she saw who was standing there, her eyes widened. It was someone she never expected to see.
Thud.
Stepping down from the windowsill, Prince Alex approached her with his usual gentle smile.
“L-Lord Alex...? Why are you here...?”
“The performance is over. Time to clean up the mess.”
“What?”
Alex took another step closer and clicked his tongue softly as he looked her over.
“She seemed rather fond of you, so I left you alone.”
Aria might have been nothing more than a toy causing trouble behind the scenes, but Nailia had grown surprisingly attached to her. That was why he’d decided to let her be for a while longer.
“But in the end, Nailia threw you away first.”
“W-What are you talking about...?”
“Do you know what happens to a toy once it’s been thrown away?”
With a faint smile, Alex stepped back onto the windowsill. Then, he casually tossed something onto the floor.
It was a tiny black stone.
“Disposed of. That’s the fate of abandoned toys.”
Crack!
“—!”
Alex vanished from the window.
At the same instant, the room transformed. What filled the room was black trees.
“Aaaahhh!”
Screeeeeech!
The alarm blared at the exact same time Aria’s scream tore through the house.
“W-What was that?”
“What happened?”
“The Black Forest?!”
At the sound of the alarm, everyone inside the house rushed outside. Yet all they found was a strangely peaceful scene.
The confusion on their faces only deepened as they looked around. Not a single one of them glanced toward Aria’s room.
.
.
.
Chapter 28: Aria’s Death
“Does that even make sense?”
“A victim of a monster attack was found inside their own home.”
“Good heavens... what on earth is going on?”
Standing behind Kainel, Ceres listened to the discussion with a darker expression than usual. She already knew who they were talking about.
Aria.
The girl who had disappeared from the Academy as if fleeing for her life had been found dead inside her own house. The official conclusion was that she’d been killed by a monster.
And just like before, there wasn’t any witness who had seen the attack happen.
The alarm went off, didn’t it?
Ceres couldn’t help thinking of the Black Forest she’d encountered before. That strange phenomenon which trapped only a single person inside.
But why Aria’s house of all places?
And why her room? No matter how she looked at it, none of it made sense.
Was it really just a coincidence?
The more she thought about it, the less she liked that explanation.
“This is looking more and more like the work of a serial killer.”
“I agree. Someone likely staged the scene to resemble a monster attack.”
“Exactly. There’s no other explanation.”
Are they serious? How exactly do you fake a monster attack in the first place?
Ceres stared in disbelief as the conversation veered completely off course.
They’re making it painfully obvious they’ve never fought a monster before.
Several of the mercenary guild masters wore similarly awkward expressions, yet none of them spoke up. They were probably too busy gauging the mood of the nobles.
Lot, the vice-captain attending the Imperial Council in Skal’s place again today, merely sat there with the same smile he always wore.
He looked about as interested in joining this discussion as he did in throwing himself off a cliff.
“So, we’re all agreed that this is a serial murder case...”
“Do you really believe that?”
Unable to listen any longer, Ceres finally cut in. How long were they planning to keep repeating the same nonsense?
“You can’t be serious.”
The noble who’d spoken up last faltered under Ceres’s stare. The annoyance and disbelief on her face were plain to see.
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