Chapter 73
Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Aide's Choice (1)
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Melissa's expression hardened.
It was a face where all provocation, mockery, and leisure had shattered into pieces.
A moment of silence.
In that gap flowed—,
One was gazes piercing through each other.
The other was tension ready to explode at a touch.
The one who broke the silence first was Melissa.
The sound of her grinding her teeth.
Melissa, catching her breath under my shadow, spoke without hiding her hostility.
"...How dare you, you rootless worm."
"Watch your words, senior. Rootless? I am a direct descendant of House Noir, one of Ethersia's Seven Great Houses symbolizing the Moon."
Without softening my expression, I maintained my upright posture.
No matter what anyone says, I am Celen Noir.
The youngest of House Noir and aide to Eliad.
Continuing while upholding the dignity befitting a noble.
"The Academy pursues equality in principle, but it does not tolerate rudeness. Such rude remarks that reveal one's character only broadcast one's own level to the world."
"Ha."
A snicker—,
A short scoff leaked from Melissa's mouth.
Melissa, arrogantly lifting her chin, stepped closer.
"Hey, insolent brat."
"...Insolent brat?"
"Yeah. A pathetic brat whose magic power isn't even detectable."
An expression trampling on a person.
Eyes looking at the ignorant.
Her arrogance permeating everywhere was utterly tiresome.
Melissa, biting her lips tightly, murmured menacingly.
"Just what did you take my words for?"
"Then what did you take my words for?"
I retorted to her insolent nonsense in kind.
Melissa ground her teeth.
An expression as if looking at something incomprehensible.
Yeah.
It must be incomprehensible.
The feeling is mutual for me regarding them.
House Noir's intuition told me.
Their statements weren't lies.
Yeah.
For them, that might be the truth.
'But so what?'
Your words might be true too.
But that doesn't mean it negates my entire world.
To me—.
All the time I've lived is truth.
Undeniably certain.
Experienced directly by me.
Built through all sorts of efforts.
The foundation that makes me exist couldn't be changed by words from someone else's mouth.
The Seven Great Houses didn't exist originally?
Never heard of House Noir?
So what.
In this world right now, no one doesn't know House Noir.
'...Though being treated like a sacred prophet rather than a thief is a bit much even for me.'
Anyway, Noir is a name deeply engraved in this country's history.
And the Seven Great Houses too.
The absolute foundation supporting this country.
If you go to the square right now and claim the Seven Great Houses are an illusion?
You'd be pointed at as crazy,
Or dragged away immediately as a rebel shaking the nation's foundation.
But,
What angers me the most—.
Was daring to define my childhood friend Ruena Eliad as evil with that ignorant nonsense.
I am Noir.
A clan skilled at reading others' inner thoughts.
Not just hearts and futures.
Others' expressions.
Voices.
Actions.
Even a single breath,
The subtle tremor of their gaze.
I quickly assess all of it to read their intentions.
Their feelings toward Ruena.
Pure malice, damn it.
Hatred.
Contempt.
Hostility.
The depth of those emotions wasn't something that could accumulate in a single instance.
Just like they deny my foundation,
The distrust and hatred toward Ruena must have solidified as their truth from their experiences.
But—.
The years I've watched over Ruena are no less.
They may have repeated the same time countless times,
But I've been with Ruena Eliad's time all along.
From age 7 to now.
Over 10 long years.
In all those countless days, Ruena was never evil to me.
Not once.
To me, Ruena is just a childhood friend who needs a lot of looking after.
Often forgetting even basics,
Weak in the mornings and can't get up alone,
A scatterbrain who might cause an accident if you look away for a second.
But—.
I couldn't hate her.
Rather... there was satisfaction in taking care of her.
Ruena,
Never took my help for granted.
Even as friends,
Even now as a paid aide.
She always knew to be grateful when helped.
Even though my nagging might annoy her,
She never got angry even when making a sulky face at my scolding.
She ate everything I made without leaving any, even if not to her taste.
Even if it had something she disliked,
She'd smile brightly saying it's okay because I made it.
And yet—.
When smelling the scent of her favorite strawberry jam cookies, she'd be excited all day.
Humming.
Singing unheard tunes,
Acting like the happiest person in the world.
To the point it belied her title as Eliad's heir.
That's the Ruena I've seen.
Even in her stoic childhood, that part was the same.
Evil that is grateful to others?
Evil that gets happy over strawberry jam cookies?
Evil that never treated me, of lower status, rudely even once?
Just which part is evil?
At least I—,
Have never seen a part to definitively call evil while with Ruena.
'Of course..., I have seen scenes where I die by Ruena's hand.'
But even that has decreased in frequency long ago.
At some point, when checking Ruena's future, negative afterimages were barely felt.
Before, scenes of my death would appear frequently.
But from some moment, I had to concentrate to see scenes of my death.
Yeah.
Little by little.
Gradually decreasing.
I don't know the reason.
My ability to steal futures... even I, the user, wonder 'what is this.'
But—.
One thing I know.
The future doesn't flow linearly,
Numerous possibilities weave like spiderwebs, creating new branches every moment.
So Ruena's future can't be fixed to one.
That the future is organic,
Is the fact I, who has stolen countless others' futures, know best.
'From the start, what they repeated wasn't perfectly identical either, right?'
Since they call me a variable.
A chuckle escaped.
Melissa's face twisted.
Anxiety as if anyone could see she'd lost her composure.
Now conversely, I—,
Enjoying the moment when the flow completely reversed, lifted one corner of my mouth.
"Ruena is a disaster that must absolutely be eliminated?"
"Yeah! That bitch will destroy this world and all other worlds connected to this place...."
"By whose authority?"
Melissa bit her lips tightly.
I slowly lowered my head to match her eye level.
"That thing you say you've repeated? The ending in that world? You sure it's the same now?"
"...That's why first-timers are like this. Yeah. I'm sure. Because the same ending happened six times."
"Yeah? I'm sure too. Ruena isn't the type to deserve that treatment."
Snorting, I tilted my head back.
And without any wavering, firmly continued.
"If you don't know about Noir, I'll tell you one thing. Noirs can see the future."
"...Ha, so?"
"I've peeked at countless futures from age 5 to now. The conclusion from seeing all those futures is one. ...The future changes."
Melissa ground her teeth and sneered.
Then twisted her mouth, a venomous voice leaking out.
"Yeah. It changes. It has changed annoyingly. Everything except this world's end."
"Who decided that? Did you see it?"
"Hahaha! Are the ears on your head just decoration? I've told you countless times? I've already seen that ending six times..."
"Not that. Did you see this world's end, the seventh one you claim?"
Melissa clenched her teeth tightly.
Her breathing grew loud enough to hear in my ears.
Whether it was anger,
Or bewilderment from running out of words, I couldn't tell.
But, a thief wouldn't miss such a golden opportunity.
Chuckling, I pressed Melissa further.
"You might know the worlds up to the sixth better than me. But so what? Now it's the seventh. Strictly speaking, both of us are newbies, right?"
"...Really, feels like talking to a wall. I told you? It always flows to the same ending. Even in my six repetitions, not once...!"
"Yeah. Those repetitions. They weren't perfectly the same either. There are variables, right? Plus, didn't you call me a variable?"
Solemnly looking down at Melissa.
I could see her expression gradually hardening.
Leisurely lifting the corner of my mouth, I continued.
"That variable has been by Ruena's side for over 10 years. ...Are you sure the future didn't change? Confident?"
"......Confident."
"Yeah? On what basis? For reference, repeating six times or whatever is meaningless, I think?"
"Wait, Celen! ...Sister has ...huff, reasons for being confident!"
Turning to the voice from the side.
Marian, struggling to pull out the wooden plank from the tree, her whole body drenched in sweat, continued panting.
"Th-this... world has something called... coercive force."
"...Coercive force?"
"Yeah. Huff—! This world, ...basically otome game based. ...Well, mixed with manga, novels, side games, etc."
Otome game? Manga?
Tilting my head at unfamiliar terms.
Marian, placing the plank on the ground, caught her breath and continued.
"You're from this world, Celen?"
"Yeah."
"So, otome game is.... simply put, fixed choices, and events that definitely happen?"
Perhaps because it's unfamiliar info.
Hard to understand what she's saying.
Fixed choices.
Events that definitely happen.
'Could the one-month period be due to that event too?'
For now, I listened to Marian's explanation.
"Ugh, so hard to explain. So! Events that activate unconditionally if conditions are met!"
"...If conditions are met?"
"Yeah! Moments you can't avoid no matter how you try. We call that coercive force."
It was starting to make a bit of sense.
So....
They're confident because of that coercive force.
'What on earth happens in half a month?'
While lost in various thoughts—,
Marian continued in a much more serious voice than before.
"Celen."
"Yeah."
"I understand your position. Childhood friends with Ruena, right? We must seem crazy saying this. Hard to accept."
"Yeah. You get it."
"But be confident. The childhood friend you know will change. ...In half a month, due to the coercive force I mentioned."
Marian said that and dropped her gaze to the ground.