The Trap of Good Intentions
After Sylvia left, I stared at the door that had closed so quietly and fell into a deep contemplation. Telling her that I had never considered her a friend was a calculated move to sever our ties. If I kept deceiving her and remained her friend, I feared she would be devastated when I eventually died, and I knew I wouldn't be able to bear that guilt. My true feelings had slipped out because I was physically unwell, but the fact remained: she now knew I had approached her with ulterior motives.
In the original novel, Sylvia despised nothing more than people who approached her to use her. I never imagined things would turn out this way. To think that Sylvia herself would suggest we start over, that she would ask me to be her friend... It might be selfish, but I felt a surge of joy alongside the guilt. It felt as if I had been forgiven for everything I had done to her until now. It felt as if the time I had spent with her wasn't entirely a lie.
Sylvia Astra. A girl with high walls due to the hardships of her childhood, yet possessing a heart purer than anyone else's. A kind soul who, seeing me sick, had gone out to buy medicine while caught in the rain without an umbrella. If I had nodded at her words, I could have truly become her friend this time. But I couldn't. It wasn't because I didn't want to be her friend. It was precisely because she was such a good person, someone I *wanted* to be friends with, that I couldn't allow it.
Perhaps because the rain and the general chaos had rattled my composure, there was a moment during our conversation earlier when my condition had suddenly plummeted. The witch's voice had echoed in my ears, demanding I burn everything, and I saw hallucinations of flames erupting from my body, accompanied by the sensation of being burned alive. But more painful than that agony was the sight in my vision: the flames from my body spreading and consuming Sylvia. Thankfully, Sylvia must have done something to help while I was suffering, as I regained my senses, but it was harrowing in every way.
I hadn't remembered it until now, but I was the one who always had to suffer through those voices and hallucinations. The witch within me was like a ticking time bomb. A bomb that might not only destroy me but drag everyone around me into the inferno. I recalled the smile Sylvia wore when I shook my head earlier. She had smiled as if she were fine, but the moisture in her eyes certainly wasn't from the rain. That look told me exactly how she felt about me.
But I couldn't guarantee that what I saw in my hallucinations wouldn't happen in reality. If I cared for Sylvia, I decided I shouldn't get any closer to her. That was why I had refused to be her friend. I let out a bitter laugh and looked out the window; the rain was still pouring down. I really did hate the rain.
Back at her mansion, Sylvia pondered what she could do for Scarlet. To be honest, she wanted to overhaul the entire environment in which Scarlet lived. Scarlet wasn't properly enjoying the three basic elements of human life: clothing, food, and shelter. Sylvia felt dissatisfied with that. She wanted Scarlet to lead a more affluent life. But she knew Scarlet had a personality that didn't like receiving help from others. If she tried to offer direct assistance to someone who even hesitated to have their lunch tray carried for them, Scarlet would surely refuse.
So, Sylvia agonized over it. How could she make Scarlet accept her help without being able to refuse? As she thought, the scene from when she brought the medicine yesterday played over and over in her mind. A thought flashed through her brain, and Sylvia shuddered involuntarily. Once, Scarlet had said that if a situation arose that she absolutely couldn't solve on her own, she would ask for help. Yesterday, when she received the medicine, she had been in a state where she had no choice but to accept help. A state where she couldn't refuse—no, *wouldn't* refuse.
Then, what if... what if she artificially created a situation that Scarlet couldn't solve on her own, forcing her to rely on Sylvia's help? In that fleeting moment, a thousand different methods raced through Sylvia's mind. She felt a chill of fear at herself, wondering if she was truly such a dangerous person. Even more surprising was the realization that she could execute most of these ideas as long as they didn't cause major harm to her family. Money, power—as the heir to the Astra family, she was in a position to use them to her heart's content.
Sylvia had once read a story in a fairy tale book about how good and bad spirits lived inside a person's heart. The moral was that when something happened, one shouldn't listen to just one side, but listen to both and think carefully about which was right. And Sylvia knew that the one shouting in her heart right now was the bad spirit.
"Hehehe. Who cares about what she wants! Just do whatever you want! Help that friend you cherish so much, and make her feel incredibly grateful to you! Then you'll be able to be friends! Just imagine it! Her smiling at you!"
It was a very, very tempting thought. Sylvia imagined Scarlet smiling brightly at her and giggled, but then she caught herself and shook her head vigorously. She had almost been swayed by the bad spirit's words, but listening only to that would be wrong. Sylvia listened to the good spirit, which was shouting in opposition to the bad one.
"Wake up! If you do things on your own without asking for the other person's opinion, that's practically a crime! Sylvia, you're a good girl. You shouldn't commit crimes, right?"
Sylvia snapped to her senses at those words. That was right; what she was about to do was a crime. Thanking the good spirit for stopping her from becoming a criminal, she decided to ask for the good spirit's opinion on what she should do instead.
"Obviously, you should ask for permission to see if it's okay to do it!"
At the word "permission," Sylvia had a great realization. ...Right, if she just got permission, it might not be a crime. The most moderate method to achieve her goal among those she had thought of earlier was instantly fleshed out. Sylvia made a phone call to seek that permission.
"...Yes, Miss. What's this about?"
The person she called was Luke Aegis, whose number she had received previously. To ease her worries, she decided to confirm one thing with him again. "You said last time that others in the family wouldn't know that Scarlet is an experimental subject, right?"
"Sator was trying to conduct the experiments secretly without informing the family. Since he said even he couldn't figure it out for a while, it's almost certain that detailed information wasn't shared with the family. But is that what you called to ask?"
"No. I'm calling today regarding the issue of Scarlet's living situation." That was enough. Sylvia opened her mouth, thinking of the words that could persuade him. "I visited where Scarlet lives yesterday, and I found her suffering alone with a fever. She got better after I gave her medicine, but if Scarlet, who lives alone, suddenly gets that sick again... you never know what might happen."
"...That happened? She shouldn't be getting sick... No, her body is so weakened, I suppose it's possible. This is troublesome. What should I do..."
"If you're anxious about leaving her to live alone, you could just find someone to live with her, right? It just so happens that there's a room available at the house of someone in her class who knows her circumstances and is the same gender... What do you think?"
A perfect plan where she gave Scarlet help, Luke's worries were eased, and Scarlet could live in a better place. Naturally, getting permission was instantaneous. "Oh, there's one important thing: you mustn't tell her that I suggested this. If you do, she might get stubborn and refuse to come. We had a bit of a disagreement yesterday. It's deceiving her, but... I can't just leave Scarlet to live alone. Right?"
And unfortunately for Scarlet, once the landlord and guardian were made accomplices, Sylvia's plan could not fail.
The next day, the rain stopped. Perhaps because the rain had ceased and my mood had improved, I was enjoying a refreshing morning, having not heard my alarm. Since it was the weekend, I didn't have to go to school, so I was enjoying a leisurely breakfast and tidying up when I heard a knock at the door.
"Hmm... Good morning, Scarlet. Are you feeling a bit better?" When I opened the door, the guardian was standing there with an awkward smile.
"...What brings you here so early in the morning?" When I asked, tilting my head, he scratched his head and replied.
"Well... I'm sorry to say this so early, but it seems you'll have to vacate the room you're living in now. The landlord says to move out..."
At the thunderbolt news heard first thing in the morning, I said in confusion, "Suddenly? What on earth for..."
"Uh... well... it's because it's such an old building, they've issued a demolition order. Anyway, let's pack your things for now. You don't have much to take, so we can pack quickly, right?"
Even so, to tell me something so important on the very day... I was furious at the tyranny of the wicked landlord who didn't care one bit about the human rights of the tenants. "Then where am I supposed to live..."
"I've contacted various places and looked into it. Don't worry, just pack your things for now. And the landlord sent some money because he felt sorry, did you check your account?"
After checking the number of zeros in my account at his words, I quietly packed my things. They say the best cure for anger management issues is financial therapy...
After packing a few clothes and daily necessities into the bag the guardian had brought, I got into the car parked in front of the house. "But where is this place I'm supposed to stay?"
"...You'll know when you get there." When I asked the guardian sitting next to me, who seemed to have a separate driver, he answered with a subtle expression, then muttered quietly, "To go this far..."
You'll know when you get there—where on earth is it? As I thought that and waited quietly, the car stopped, as if we had arrived at our destination. And when I got out of the car, what I saw was a massive mansion.
"Welcome to the Astra mansion, Scarlet." And there was Sylvia, smiling with a bright face.
As I stood there blankly at the unexpected situation, the car left, leaving me all alone with the bag containing my luggage. It was a checkmate.