Lies
Sylvia Astra hated liars. That was precisely why she had asked Scarlet, who lay in bed looking unwell from the events of the previous day, the question that burned in her mind. “...You mean to say you never once thought of me as a friend?”
Scarlet had only nodded slowly in response. If she was going to say something so cruel, she could have at least worn a cold expression. But with that look of profound sorrow on her face, what was Sylvia supposed to do? Sylvia’s face twisted. She hated people who approached her with ulterior motives, lying to her face to use her for their own ends. She hated them more than anything. She really did.
And yet, when the person she considered her first and most precious friend told her that she had never once thought of her as a friend, the first thing that crossed Sylvia’s mind was not anger. It was a desperate, pleading wish: Even if you lied to me all this time, that’s fine—just don’t say things like that.
So, with a voice that sounded half-begging, Sylvia asked, “You’re lying, right?”
“......”
“Tell me you’re lying......”
But Scarlet remained silent. As the realization dawned on her that Scarlet wasn’t lying, a single word slipped past Sylvia’s lips, unbidden. “......Why?”
That one word captured the entirety of Sylvia’s heart. What possible purpose could have driven her to approach her, begging to be friends? And if she had a motive, why not keep it hidden until she achieved it? Why confess it now, as if she were unburdening her soul?
As if answering that unspoken question, Scarlet murmured in a small voice, “......I wanted to live. So......”
That short, simple answer hit Sylvia like a physical blow to the head. The primal, universal desire to live—that was the reason she had approached her. Sylvia recalled what Luke had told her yesterday. He said Scarlet had been subjected to horrific, indescribable experiments by Sator. She had likely burned down the laboratory and escaped simply because she didn’t want to die. And now, having finally managed to live a normal life, she had met the heir to the very family that had tortured her on her first day at the academy.
What must have been going through Scarlet’s mind? Facing the possibility of being dragged back into that nightmare? Perhaps, seeing that Sylvia didn’t recognize her, she had thought that if she could just become close to her, she might avoid that fate. If she had only approached her because she was the heir to the Astra family, then Sylvia herself held no value to her at all.
At that moment, she heard Scarlet’s voice again. “......I’m sorry, Sylvia. I’m truly sorry......”
Her voice was heavy with regret and guilt. She might have approached her for the same reasons as the people Sylvia despised so much. But Sylvia felt no desire to resent her. Her heart simply ached. Who could blame her? She had only wanted to live, and if anyone should be feeling guilty, it was Sylvia herself. After all, she was the reason Scarlet had suffered such terrible agony.
Even so, Scarlet kept apologizing. Just as Sylvia was about to tell her it was okay, she realized something was wrong with Scarlet’s condition. Scarlet was breathing in ragged gasps, her body drenched in cold sweat.
“Scarlet! Are you alright? Ugh...! What is this! You’re burning up!”
Sylvia grabbed her hand, startled by the heat radiating from her skin. Even if the body temperature of those who wielded fire was higher than average, this was dangerously hot. She quickly grabbed a towel from the bathroom, soaked it in cold water, and placed it on Scarlet’s forehead, but the fever showed no sign of breaking. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Three years at most. Scarlet was, in a sense, a terminally ill patient. And “at most” meant there was a terrifying chance she could die even sooner.
Sylvia stared at Scarlet, who was gasping for air, trembling with a sudden, overwhelming fear. I hate this. Dying—I absolutely hate that. As she desperately searched for a way to bring the fever down, she remembered there was a pharmacy on the way. Would medicine help?
“Wait just a moment! I’ll go buy some fever reducer!”
Her body was already moving before the thought had fully formed. As she sprinted outside, she realized it was raining. The downpour soaked her clothes and hair, stripping away the elegance she usually guarded so carefully, but none of that mattered now.
“Give me fever reducer! Quickly!”
The pharmacist, startled by the sudden appearance of a drenched customer, handed over the medicine. Sylvia grabbed a handful of cash from her wallet, threw it on the counter, and snatched the medicine.
“Hey! A check?! Wait—customer, your change!”
“I don’t need it!”
The pharmacist shouted, shocked by the absurd amount of money for a single bottle of medicine, but Sylvia was already running, the medicine clutched to her chest. She ran with an urgency she had never felt before. Returning to Scarlet’s house in an instant, she opened the refrigerator to find water to give with the medicine. She cried out, her voice trembling.
“How can you have no water in this house?!”
Leaving the fridge door open, she hurriedly filled a cup with tap water and offered it to Scarlet along with the medicine. But Scarlet, struggling to breathe, seemed too far gone to even swallow. Hoping it might help, Sylvia cast a mental stabilization spell. A sphere of starlight descended onto Scarlet’s forehead. After a moment, Scarlet’s breathing evened out, as if she were feeling slightly better.
“It’s fever medicine, please, drink it.”
Scarlet swallowed the medicine with the water with great difficulty. Sylvia felt the heat radiating from her body slowly begin to subside. It seemed the immediate crisis had passed. Letting out a sigh of relief, she approached the refrigerator to close the door she had left open. That was when she saw the contents inside, which she hadn’t had time to notice before.
The fridge was filled with things that were far too specific to be simple ingredients like heavy cream, butter, and chocolate. Aside from those, there were only eggs and bean sprouts. Sylvia closed the door and went to the bathroom to wipe the rainwater from her skin with a towel, but she felt a strange sense of unease. Then, realizing what it was, she stepped out and opened the refrigerator again.
As she examined the ingredients one by one, she felt as if it were becoming hard to breathe. With the exception of the bean sprouts—just the bean sprouts—everything, absolutely everything, was for making macarons.
As she stared into the fridge, she heard someone behind her stirring. Sylvia asked quietly, “......Scarlet, do you live on nothing but bean sprouts?”
A reply came from behind her. “......I, I like them......”
Even the elves in stories didn’t live on nothing but weeds. Besides, Sylvia knew better than anyone that Scarlet was a big eater. She ate so much at lunch every day at the academy.
A run-down, cramped house. Meager meals. And yet, she was making macarons for her. Even when she had only one arm, which must have made it incredibly difficult. She had said it was because she wanted to live, but if that were the only reason, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths for someone who had already become her friend. It made her sad, and it made her happy.
Sylvia closed the fridge door and turned around to look at Scarlet, who was sitting up in bed, watching her. Scarlet was usually expressionless, but today, she seemed to be showing emotions she rarely displayed—like the sad smile from earlier, or the troubled look she wore now.
Sylvia murmured, recalling their past. “......When we first met, you were the one who asked me to be your friend.”
Their first meeting had been when she asked Scarlet to buy her macarons from the snack bar on the first day of school. Back then, she had assumed Scarlet was just like everyone else, approaching her to use her.
“......Every time you gave me macarons, you always said there was no special reason, that you just gave them to me because we were friends.”
Even though Scarlet must have known Sylvia was being spiteful, she had always handed her the macarons with that same explanation. Sylvia had convinced herself that there had to be a hidden motive for such kindness.
“Do you remember when I told you...... that I had never thought of you as a friend? I told you there was no need to buy me macarons anymore, but you made them by hand anyway, didn’t you?”
And yet, even after Sylvia had hurt her, Scarlet had reached out to her again without hesitation. Because she had been so consistent from the very beginning, Sylvia had truly believed she wanted to be her friend. That was when she had finally opened her heart to her. Even if there had been a motive, Scarlet had tried so hard to be her friend. If she were suddenly telling her now that she only wanted to live, there could be only one reason.
“I thought you were unconscious yesterday, but you must have heard us talking. I don’t think you knew before that.”
As she said this, she saw Scarlet’s eyes flicker. The real reason Scarlet had gone out of her way to tell her about her ulterior motive was because she was kind. Scarlet was the one who would sense it like a ghost whenever Sylvia wanted to eat macarons and offer them to her. Because she was sharp and kind, she knew how much pain Sylvia would feel if she died, so she had tried to end their relationship.
That was it. Whatever she was, and for whatever reason she had approached her, the fact that she was that kind of person hadn’t changed. At the very least, Sylvia liked her. She liked her so much that the thought of her death was terrifying. She liked her enough to desperately want to remain her friend until the very end.
“You said earlier that you never thought of me as a friend from the start, right? Then let me ask you one thing. Please, answer me honestly.”
She didn’t want to give up.
“Then, have you never, not even once, thought that you wanted to be my friend?”
Scarlet’s head, which had been still, moved slightly. Not up and down, but side to side. That was enough.
“I said the same thing to you once before, didn’t I? So it’s okay. Let’s start over from the beginning. Let’s pretend today is the first day we met.”
Sylvia smiled brightly and held out the ring she had been clutching in her hand. The same words she had spoken on the day they first met, the day she had opened her heart to her, she spoke once more.
“Scarlet, will you be my friend?”
Scarlet’s head moved slowly. Once again, side to side. It was the answer she had expected.
“I’m sorry......”
Scarlet said, bowing her head like a sinner. What did she have to be so sorry for? Sylvia knew. She knew Scarlet hadn’t opened her heart to her yet. Sylvia smiled, tucked the ring back into her pocket, and said,
“Next time, I’m going to hear you say ‘thank you’ instead of ‘I’m sorry,’ so be prepared.”
With those words, she left Scarlet’s house. On her way back to the mansion under her umbrella, Sylvia looked up at the sky and folded it. The falling raindrops streamed down her face. As the cold rain flowed, warmth seeped through it. Expectations were expectations, and disappointment was disappointment. But the Astras never forgot a kindness or a grudge. Scarlet had tried so hard to open her heart. If that was the case, Sylvia would simply have to try even harder to open Scarlet’s.
In the pouring rain, the girl made that vow to herself. Of course, after she returned to the mansion, she was lectured endlessly by Sebastian.