Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Visiting Hours #04
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After checking the letter's contents, my brain froze for a good while.
'...What the hell? Run away or kill myself?'
When I peered at the letter with a shocked expression, Violet spoke to me in a worried voice and grabbed my hand.
"Arthin, what's wrong? Is there something off about the letter?"
"Uh... um... Want to take a look yourself?"
"Can I? What's it say that's got you so rattled?"
"Can I see too? I've never seen you make such a blank face before, Arthin."
I nodded and set the letter down on the table.
"...What is this? Telling you to die? Wasn't Shaomei supposed to be your close little sister? This is the kind of letter you'd send to someone bullying you!"
Marianne big sis reacted with exasperation at the word "die," her voice rough with disbelief.
It was a perfectly natural response. Most people would take "run away or die" as an insult or curse.
"Marianne sis, calm down. There must be some meaning behind it, right?"
"Meaning? You mean like some kind of code? Or something only you would understand?"
"Hm... I'm not totally sure yet... but probably?"
If I thought about it calmly, there was no way Shaomei—who had clung to my waist, whining that she didn't want to part with me—had suddenly grown to hate me and ordered me to die.
'Shaomei knows about my regressions. So this letter must mean run away or regress...'
What puzzled me was why she was suddenly telling me to regress. Because I'd been admitted here? Or because I was alone with Kaiyen? What was it?
"...Come to think of it, Shaomei has been acting off since this morning."
At that moment, Violet—who had read the letter, crossed her arms, and sunk into thought without a word—muttered to herself.
"Acting off since morning? What do you mean?"
"Well... We all gathered around 11, and everyone looked regretful or sad, so I didn't notice much at first... but Shaomei was especially worked up."
"Worked up? What do you mean?"
"Like..."
Violet slowly began explaining what had happened that morning in the alchemy club room.
"When everyone had gathered, Shaomei arrived last, looking incredibly frantic. She was panting hard. I asked if she was okay, and she said she'd overslept and rushed over... so I bought that."
"...Shaomei was panting? From oversleeping and running?"
From the very start of the story, I couldn't help but make a dumbfounded face.
This was the girl who, in previous regressions, had woken up Jorba or me every dawn to drag us out for training.
Panting from oversleeping and running? Shaomei had once chased down a villain fleeing on a swift red horse that could cover a thousand li, pursuing on lightness skill for half a day straight until she caught him.
"Anyway, we let it slide at that, but then she handed out the letters and said she missed her big brother too much to stay long... and hurried out not long after."
"...That's not just weird or over the top. That's straight-up suspicious, isn't it?"
Bursting in out of nowhere, handing over a letter with no details, then vanishing like she was fleeing the scene not long after.
That was the behavior of someone pulling a midnight flit the next day.
"We thought it was weird at first, too! But Jorba... uh... well..."
"Jorba? What did Jorba say?"
"...She sometimes acts like that on those days, he said. So we just went with it..."
At those words, I understood why Violet had been so hesitant to bring it up.
Jorba definitely knew Shaomei better than I did... maybe even better than me.
If he said it was normal for her, everyone would have accepted it.
'If Jorba covered for Shaomei's suspicious behavior, does that mean he knows something too?'
Just in case, I rummaged for the letter Jorba had written. Maybe he'd put something more detailed in his.
"Found it. Let's see..."
-My friend Arthin, I'm writing after so long because I have a favor to ask.
I've heard that the northern church's premium missals are all the rage among noble ladies lately.
It'd be a huge help if you could snag a few from a church contact.
Actually, make it ten to be safe. Your friend Jorba-
"That little shit!"
─Fwoosh!
I snapped my fingers, and Jorba's letter burst into flames midair, scattering to ash.
"I'll write a letter asking what happened today for now. Violet, can you deliver it and find out what's going on?"
"Ah, got it. But what was that letter you just burned...?"
"Trash. Don't worry about it."
More than that, two things were giving me a headache.
Shaomei aside, Olga—who had suddenly bolted from the visiting room—was still nagging at me...
"Hey, I've been wondering since earlier, but it felt too serious to ask outright?"
"...Yeah? What is it, sis?"
"You, Shaomei, and Violet. What's the exact deal between you three? And you seemed super close with the northern church's saintess too."
"Cough! Cough! W-what are you talking about? What relationship?"
I'd been wetting my throat with black tea while she asked, but her straight ball caught me off guard, and I choked.
"Calling Agnes by name instead of 'Imperial Princess' or 'Your Highness' is suspicious enough... You're always sneakily touching Violet, and Saintess Olga's reaction was weird too. What are you three up to behind my back?"
"...N-no, it's not... It's nothing big. Really."
I stammered. Should I let Marianne big sis find out about my harem?
Probably not. She was part of the student council. If word got to Crown Prince Richard before her official engagement, she'd probably try to kill me.
"W-we're just friends! You know how close we got solving the Rose Hall incident, right? The princess too!"
"...Y-yeah! Friends. We're all first-years, so we bonded quick. Shaomei and him are like little sister and big brother!"
Violet jumped in to help, so I latched onto it, making excuses with an awkward smile.
"Hmmm... Really? Just friends, huh...?"
"Of course! I only came to visit because Princess Agnes asked me to. As for Saintess Olga..."
"...P-pen pals! Pen pal friends! We met once as kids thanks to Jorba!"
"...Oh? With the saintess? Thanks to Jorba Pelkas?"
I nodded vigorously, throwing Jorba's name under the bus.
"Obviously! Jorba's got connections everywhere, right? We went north with him, met her briefly during a service, and started exchanging letters after hitting it off."
"Oh, really? What about?"
"You know, what to do at the aca...demy, everyday life stuff. Books, faith debates..."
There's that saying: A compelling lie is 90% truth mixed with 10% fabrication.
I recited snippets from actual letters I'd exchanged with Olga, insisting it was true. And it was—no lie. Even if it was from the 3rd regression.
"Ideal types, dream dates, what kind of married life you'd want..."
"...You've been swapping letters about that stuff with her—the saintess—behind my back? Arthin?"
But midway through, Violet's voice from beside me turned oddly cold.
I slowly turned to her, and her eyes held the same chill she'd shown toward Olga earlier.
"Violet? What's with you too...?"
"Who knows? Hearing this, now I'm curious about those letters. Keep explaining?"
"No, isn't this enough...?"
At Violet's cold tone—so unlike her gentle self—I unwittingly clasped my hands neatly in my lap.
A quick glance at Marianne big sis showed her enjoying the scene, arms crossed with a smirk.
"No, I'd like a proper explanation. Might have to report it to Agnes and Student Council President Richard too, you know?"
This was weird. The visiting hours I'd eagerly awaited all morning weren't fun at all.
I shot a final glance at Almiraz, but she looked away when our eyes met.
Almiraz, you too?
"Go on, explain more. What else was in those letters? Who'd you put for ideal type?"
"Yeah, I really wanna know your ideal type. What'd you write?"
My instincts—honed over 26 years as Yang Hee-min in reality and 21 as Arthin here—were sharply warning me.
This was a bigger crisis than Rose Hall.
Suddenly, Shaomei's letter flashed through my mind.
-Big brother, get out of there and run as far as you can! Or just regress!-
I sincerely wanted to regress right then.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Olga burst out of the visiting room and headed straight to her own.
"Saintess? What happened? Your face..."
"Out of my way! No one enters my room!"
─Bang!!
She sharply brushed off even the priestess looking at her with concern, then knelt in her room and started dry-heaving.
"Ugh! Uegh! Heok...! Heok...!"
Her breath came in ragged gasps, chest tight and throbbing.
Olga hurriedly summoned holy power and directed it at her aching chest, easing the pain but not stopping her racing heart or hyperventilation.
Fumbling blindly, she grabbed her ever-present veil, rolled it up, and bit down—only then did the hyperventilation symptoms slowly subside.
"Hoo...! Hoo...! Agnes...!!! You damned sow...!!!"
Once the panic attack stopped, Olga finally stood, composing herself.
Her face was ghostly pale, tear tracks from the attack streaking her cheeks.
Her carefully tended hair was disheveled from yanking off the veil roughly, and her hands still trembled with remembered terror.
Had the priest she'd passed on the way seen her like this? If so, she might need to ask Sir Sergei to silence her.
"Hoo... hoo... The medicine must be around here somewhere..."
Thankful she hadn't shown this disgrace to Arthin, Olga roughly unlocked the bottom drawer.
She pulled out the bottle of panic disorder pills she took in secret, dumped a handful into her shaking palm, and shoved them in her mouth.
She chased them with wine from beside the bottle, and only then did her hands stop trembling.
As the effects kicked in, leaving her pleasantly hazy, Olga slumped into a chair, savoring the daze.
Holy power could purge the overdose side effects instantly, but right now, she needed this haze.
"...Not yet. For Arthin, I have to endure this much. I need to be the perfect saintess..."
Grinning, Olga looked in the mirror again.
The smooth reflection showed her shattered into pieces.