Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: 11. Guidance
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Today, the tutoring session came to an end.
While Ella worked on her self-study, I stood face-to-face with her tutor.
"Today, Ella... asked me something like this."
"How did you respond?"
"If it truly helped... I told her to acknowledge that fact and forgive."
Ella's anger was fundamentally close to self-loathing.
Self-loathing for failing to protect her little sister.
That alone couldn't sustain long-term hatred toward me.
She'd simply confused the subject and the target.
Was some idiot going to rant, I hate myself! and somehow conclude, So I hate you!?
Once the emotional impulse faded, all that remained was a logical fallacy.
It was only natural that Ella's feelings would start to shift as she became aware of it.
I'd anticipated it, so it didn't come as much of a shock.
The real issue... was how to resolve it from here.
There are countless ways to make her hate me.
I lifted my head and stared at the tutor I was speaking with.
The fact that Ella had started confiding her feelings and questions meant she'd opened her heart to this woman to some degree.
The moment someone opens up, special emotions toward that person form in an instant.
A little more time, and even an elementary school kid could easily imagine killing the woman right in front of her and hijacking the corpse.
But what about the opposite?
The opposite of hatred. What was that emotion called?
Love? Perhaps.
Then, could I make Ella love me?
Emotions are heavily influenced by first impressions.
Anyone could easily draw out good feelings or bad ones based on that initial encounter.
In that sense, I'd royally screwed up my relationship with Ella.
This won't be easy.
But it wasn't impossible either.
That was the greatness of humanity.
I was weighing those two options, pondering my next move,
when she spoke up.
"I don't know what happened between you and that girl, but..."
"...?"
The tutor continued in a concerned tone.
"She's a good kid. Smart, too. It'd be best for both of you to make up soon――"
"――Ah. Thank you for the advice."
I patted the tutor's shoulder.
"Thanks for today as well. Without you, I really would've had to take the long way around."
"...Haha. Thank you. Well then, I'll be going..."
The tutor backed away with a slightly drained expression.
Hatred was easy, love was hard.
That paradoxical phrase about loving your enemy felt oddly endearing today.
"――Teacher."
The tutor, who had been hurrying away as if fleeing, stopped in her tracks.
I gave her a slight smile as she turned her reluctant face toward me.
"Take good care of Ella."
"Pardon?"
"You might already know this, but that girl is clumsier than she seems. She doesn't even properly recognize her own emotions."
"..."
"So... please guide her well."
How did she take my words?
The tutor's expression brightened just a touch.
"...Yes!"
A year passed, and winter arrived.
Snow was already falling outside.
Ella lay against the windowsill, gazing out. Massive snowflakes poured down, blanketing the streets in white.
She extended her open palm into the air. Through the fogged glass, her handprint showed faintly.
A year ago, this hand only knew how to grip a sword hilt.
Now?
It knew how to hold a pen, turn book pages, and count numbers.
She could name figures from history and ponder why they made their choices.
...This is weird.
The more she learned, the more she realized how ignorant she'd been.
How shallow her world had been.
Ella had never once thought of herself as a frog in a well her whole life, but lately, that idea kept crossing her mind.
It made her feel profoundly humble.
"Today's really the last one, Ella."
The tutor said while packing up her materials.
Ella stared blankly at her hands. It was a familiar motion she'd watched for a year.
Calluses on her little fingers, the thumb that folded slightly when turning pages.
"Yes. Please take care of me again next year."
Ella bowed her head in greeting.
For a moment, the tutor's hand froze.
"...Ella."
"Yes?"
The tutor opened her mouth cautiously.
"Starting next year, someone else will be teaching you."
Ella's eyes widened.
"......Pardon?"
"The contract was originally for one year. I was only supposed to teach you for that long."
Ella stared at her in a daze.
The tutor had been the first adult to teach her.
Harmless, kind, and someone who answered her questions seriously.
A strange emptiness settled in her chest.
"Still, next year..."
"Ella."
The tutor smiled softly and took Ella's hand.
"Ella, you have more talent than any student I've ever taught. I've never seen a kid finish the intermediate course this quickly. For advanced lessons, someone even better than me should take over."
"..."
"And..."
The tutor hesitated a moment before continuing carefully.
"Ella. Don't you think it's time to make up with that person?"
"......Pardon?"
The tutor squeezed Ella's hand warmly.
"All kids these days are like that. Sulking at their parents and running away, or not listening... I don't know what happened between you and him, or what your relationship is, but... don't hold onto the hate too long. Don't be so prickly. Live softly, rounded out. That's the way, Ella."
The moment Ella heard those words, something flashed through her mind.
Is she talking about that bastard?
Did that lunatic position himself as her parent?
Killing intent surged, but she shook her head.
Even if not, it could easily be seen that way.
A man who assigned her a tutor, provided food and shelter, and occasionally showed up to spout nonsense.
But he could never be called a parent.
Then how do I explain it? Guardian and ward?
It might be similar, but she could say for sure.
No. It wasn't that.
Enemy and avenger?
At first, it had definitely been enemy and avenger.
She'd never forgotten that. Even now, recalling it stirred murderous rage.
But it wasn't that anymore either.
He helped me, and that's a fact.
Without that man, Ella would have died long ago.
So, the help was real.
Over the past year, Ella had sorted out her emotions.
This was the conclusion she'd reached.
Revenge is revenge, and gratitude is gratitude. Let's make that crystal clear.
Ella gave her final bow to the tutor.
"......Thank you. Teacher."
"Yeah. Take care, Ella."
The tutor turned and left through the door. Ella stood there until her figure vanished into the snow.
Ella returned home.
Knowing he might be inside, she paused before opening the door.
The tutor had told her to reconcile, but there was nothing to reconcile.
The only thing that could be called reconciliation was untying the lingering knot between her and that man.
...What should I say?
She'd agonized over it endlessly outside, but no answer came.
As her hands and feet stiffened from the cold, Ella steeled herself and stepped inside.
He sat on the living room sofa and turned to look at her.
"You're back?"
He gazed at her as usual.
His stare used to annoy her. Now... she wasn't sure what it felt like.
After agonizing, Ella finally spoke.
"...Tutoring's over."
"Figured as much."
"...It was a one-year contract, right."
"Feeling regretful? Looks like you got pretty attached over the year."
He let out a mocking laugh. That still pissed her off.
Ella sat across from him without showing it.
She clasped her hands on her knees and took a deep breath.
"......Thanks."
It had taken a year for those words to leave her mouth.
His eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. He looked surprised.
Ella felt a strange thrill seeing his expression. So even he had things that caught him off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said. For assigning the tutor. Feeding me. Letting me sleep here. Teaching me swordsmanship... all of it."
Ella spoke clearly, word by word.
"Thank you."
He stared at her silently for a moment, his eyes like a scientist observing a new experiment result.
"But... that's that, and this is this."
"..."
"You deceiving me. Pretending to be my sister. I won't forgive that."
Ella watched his reaction. But none came.
An awkward silence stretched, until suddenly a deflating sound leaked out.
"...?"
Only then did she realize it was coming from him.
A chill ran down her spine.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Her instincts screamed it just as her face hardened.
His eyes curved into a long arc.
"I have a gift for you, for studying so hard this past year. Sad to part with the tutor?"
"―Wait, what?"
"Open it."
A box dropped from thin air.
Big enough to hold a person's head.
It reeked of blood.
"Y-You... you... you...!!"
He whispered.
"Hurry."