Chapter 111
Chapter 111
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Fighting Poison with Poison (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
●
Eliya Chrisanax was a person who boasted tremendous affinity.
Even just seeing that she had succeeded in somehow striking up a conversation with Grayhauncher in her current state, no one would object to that claim.
“...Ah, um. Yuria.”
Eliya opened her mouth, sending a single bead of cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
“W-Would it be okay if you relaxed a bit? Th-The teacher wouldn’t have asked you to do something for him if he was just outright angry with you...”
“...”
Yuria turned to look this way without a word.
Oddly enough, the first thought that came to mind was that she was ‘pure white’.
Anyone else would tilt their head and wonder what on earth that meant.
Yuria gave off an impression that was pitch black from head to toe. There was no room for such a description to sneak in.
If Eliya weren’t continuously seeing something ‘rising’ near her body right now, she probably would have agreed.
“...Y-Yeah, what Dawood asked you to do, you did it perfectly, right?”
Even as she said it, the white energy billowing out from Yuria’s body in streams was proof of that.
Eliya’s gaze swept from the sword Yuria held up and down her entire form.
Whoa.
She was white.
Unmistakably.
The form of the ‘white Yuria’ inside that body was emitting an intimidating aura.
‘...I-I can see it, see it, I can see it...!’
Eliya barely kept her trembling lips steady as that thought crossed her mind.
Lately, she had been hyper-aware of things around her in an unnaturally ‘sensitive’ way.
According to Trisha, she had become weirdly ‘sharp’.
Eliya herself didn’t really feel like she had gotten smarter or anything, but there was one thing she definitely sensed.
The ‘terrifying’ things were incredibly clear.
The ‘something’ inside the Tristan Duchess’s body, and the ‘something’ inside Yuria’s body right now.
Things that used to appear hazy, barely discernible in outline, were now crystal clear!
“Y-Yeah. The teacher will be satisfied for sure.”
Well, not exactly.
Dawood had only told her to ‘subdue’ the unicorn she was sitting on moderately, not beat it to death so thoroughly that it couldn’t even revive.
But how could she just blurt that out?
Anyway, Dawood had said ‘please’ to her and stuck Eliya with Yuria. Considering his personality, he had probably ‘calculated’ that Eliya could somehow calm her down even in this state.
So, she had to live up to those expectations.
“...”
If asked why she had to meet his expectations, she’d probably blush and snap that it was none of their business.
Ah, whatever. She just had to.
Because, well.
It’d make it easier to ‘demand’ things later, right?
‘Later, I’ll definitely get double payback...!’
She couldn’t quite define what exactly she’d get back, but at least this time she wouldn’t be ordered around with empty words.
At the very least, she needed a firm promise for a two-day date alone—
“Eliya.”
“...Yes?”
“What are you thinking about right now?”
Eliya swallowed hard.
Yuria was staring at her with dead eyes. The white form inside her body was glaring at her with almost murderous intensity.
As if it had read her thoughts about Dawood.
She had always reacted sensitively to topics about Dawood before, but ever since the white form became clearly visible, it was almost ghostly.
“N-Nothing at all...!”
Her throat tightened in fear, but Eliya somehow forced the words out. Tears welled in her eyes, but she desperately held them back.
Change the subject first.
Talk.
She had to talk.
Most of the world’s problems stemmed from breakdowns in communication. This situation could definitely be resolved with talk!
“A-Anyway! You’re still wearing that!”
Eliya pointed at the collar still around Yuria’s neck to shift the topic.
It was a forced pivot that anyone could call contrived, but it seemed to work somewhat. Yuria’s aura softened, a faint smile touching her lips.
As if caressing a precious treasure, Yuria gently touched the collar and the handkerchief tied next to it.
“...Yes.”
It was as if, just by touching it, the gloom and oppressiveness that had been devouring her moments ago vanished completely.
“Every time I touch it, I feel Dawood.”
“...”
“It’s like he’s right nearby. It makes me feel... incredibly reassured, I guess. All my memories with this thing are good ones.”
Eliya briefly recalled what Dawood had done with that collar.
Right.
Mostly dragging her around like a pet until she was choking and gasping, tossing her like an object, swinging her around like a flail—
“...”
And that counted as good memories.
Hmm.
“...Yuria really likes the teacher, huh.”
She couldn’t help but say it.
No, to have those as good memories, how much did she have to like him...?
It was undoubtedly meant as a light toss, infused with that very thought.
“Yes.”
But the response that came back was.
“...I like him.”
It was Yuria’s usual hesitant, quiet, lacking confidence voice.
But unmistakably, it was laced with an ‘earnestness’ that drowned out everything else.
Eliya flinched and turned to look at her without realizing it.
Even though her downcast eyes made it hard to read her full expression.
“I like him.”
The voice, mingled even with a sob.
“I like Dawood. Really, I do. I’d give him anything of mine.”
The desperation in it felt like it could carve out the listener’s—Eliya’s—heart.
That this statement was absolute truth to her.
“I want to be with him. Always, from now on.”
She could feel it clearly.
“...”
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
If even a reflexive question like that got a response like this.
For this woman, perhaps.
Dawood Campbell might be the very ‘meaning of her existence’—
‘...Like with the Tristan Duchess.’
Did that guy have a talent for being loved by such terrifying people?
This wasn’t just love; it was obsession bordering on ‘enslavement’. To the point where it felt like she’d accept anything he did to her. No joke.
The only thing neither the Tristan Duchess nor Yuria could tolerate was being ‘abandoned’ themselves or him prioritizing ‘others’ over them.
“...”
Whoa, hold on.
Hadn’t she just grasped something incredibly important?
Eliya furrowed her brow and retraced her recent thoughts.
Dawood Campbell was particularly loved by these terrifying beings, and what they had in common was that they couldn’t stand not monopolizing him.
A recent comment from Trisha flashed through her mind.
-...That guy seems like he’s forcibly suppressing his own feelings.
And he was hiding his favor toward her from others.
“...”
Hmm.
Hmmmm.
Something smelled off.
It reeked of him walking a tightrope with his life on the line.
Her mind spun with terrifying speed.
‘...If I play this right.’
Probably.
She was the only one who realized this.
Normally, there’d be no gap for her to squeeze in beside Dawood Campbell, who had these terrifying women lined up around him.
But if she could be the only one who understood his ‘motivations’ and ‘feelings’?
If she became the companion he could ‘rely on most safely’, unlike the others?
Couldn’t she claim a ‘unique’ position by his side?
‘...Huh? Wait, huh...? Really...?’
Maybe.
This.
Had winning potential?
She could overtake Elnor, Yuria, everyone—even though she started late, like a late-departing cheetah!
“...So, this is one thing.”
As those thoughts raced, Yuria murmured in a quiet voice.
“...I won’t yield to anyone. It’s the keepsake of memories between just Dawood and me—”
As Yuria continued.
Click. Her collar came undone. Naturally, the handkerchief tied beside it slipped off.
“...”
“...”
A heavy silence fell.
Eliya blankly alternated her gaze between the loosened collar and the handkerchief on the ground.
Then, like an unoiled machine, her head creaked around unnaturally.
And there stood the one who had undone the collar.
“...Dawood?”
Yuria uttered it in a trembling voice, and Dawood—wearing the familiar mask—nodded.
“Yeah. It’s me, Dawood.”
“...Wh-Why, why...?”
Yuria stammered it out with eyes losing all light.
“Oh, this?”
Dawood, who had heard her, responded nonchalantly.
“I’m confiscating it for a while.”
“...Wh-Why, uh, wh-what...?”
As Yuria forced it out in a voice like her throat was being strangled, Dawood shrugged.
“Nah.”
But.
Even this time, his voice was utterly indifferent.
“I thought it’d suit someone else besides you.”
“...”
“I’m planning to put it on Lucien for a bit. What do you think?”
“...”
Correction.
This bastard wasn’t walking a tightrope with his life on the line.
He was just suicidal!
As Eliya thought that in shock.
Yuria drew her sword with an utterly expressionless face.
Then.
----!!!!!!!
A white flash erupted.
●