The Academy's New Queen (2)
Watching movies was one of the few hobbies I allowed myself. I still remember the first time I saw one. It was an intensely vivid memory.
It must have been around the time the organization had finally found its footing. The invention of the projector had taken theatrical stages and moved them onto screens, and people began calling these new spectacles movies. Back then I had quit everything—drugs, cigarettes, alcohol—so there was no joy left in my life. As a result, I spent each day listless, like a dying chicken.
Seeing me like that, Heil finally lost her patience and tossed out a suggestion.
“Boss. If you’re going to keep acting like a man waiting to die tomorrow, at least go watch this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s called a movie… Hard to explain, but just go see it.”
“Ugh… Too much hassle.”
“Stop living like a damn shut-in…! Just go already!”
Eventually she somehow procured a ticket and practically shoved me out the door. (In truth, I was almost forcibly dragged there.) So I went.
The moment I sat down in the theater seat, I immediately regretted it. I had never experienced this kind of cultural pastime in my entire life, so the whole situation felt embarrassingly awkward. After waiting blankly in the darkness for what seemed like forever, the film finally began.
It was a revenge story about a knight who lost his wife to a psychotic murderer. I don’t remember the title, but the plot remains crystal clear in my mind even now.
The protagonist was a knight from a remote border territory. He had just become engaged to his long-time lover and was a newlywed full of hope. But during an evening stroll with his wife, they were ambushed. The knight took a blow to the head and blacked out. When he regained consciousness, his wife had already been discovered as a mutilated corpse.
Devastated, the knight fell into despair. He drank strong liquor every day, beat his servants, and suffered nightmares every night. After living like that for a long time, he suddenly stood up as if he had reached a decision.
The knight vowed revenge on the murderer. After tracking down the killer’s identity, he began to stalk him. He would capture the man, inflict tortures that brought him to the brink of death without actually killing him, then release him—only to repeat the process. He broke fingers, ripped out nails, seared the man’s forehead with a branding iron… The murderer writhed in endless agony and eventually developed severe neurosis.
And then came the final scene.
The knight had invited the murderer’s family to a lavish party. The moment they opened the door, he severed the murderer’s head in one clean stroke. The neatly decapitated head rolled across the floor and stopped at his family’s feet.
The magnificent banquet hall was painted red with the murderer’s blood. His family members screamed and fainted on the spot.
I sat there in a daze as the film ended and the credits rolled. That was probably the moment. The spark of revenge I had buried and forgotten for so long had been rekindled.
The emptiness in my heart that no amount of money, alcohol, or cigarettes could fill. The crushing helplessness that visited me the moment I lay down to sleep. The nightmares that came every single night. A broken mind that could neither trust others nor accept love even when it was given.
All of it was because of her.
Because of Louise Violet. That damn bitch who had reduced me to this state and was still strutting around the academy like its queen.
Therefore, Louise Violet had to suffer. She had to experience pain far greater than what I had endured—pain worse than death itself.
“Hey.”
“Uh… yeah?”
“What are you thinking about so hard? I called you multiple times.”
When I snapped out of the flashback, Alicia was standing there with a frown creasing her brow.
“Sorry.”
It was a bad habit of mine—drifting into the past whenever I had a spare moment. Still, it couldn’t be helped. That past was irreversible, and I still harbored lingering attachments to those once-brilliant days.
I lightly slapped both cheeks and stood up.
“Did it go well?”
“Yes.”
Ever since Alicia Floren agreed to join my revenge, I had ordered her to feed a select few the Extra Phelopon—a drug with one hundred times the potency of regular Phelopon. (The name “Extra Phelopon” had been coined by Heil.)
“Eldrick Yorens, Yanis Dailer, Eugene Frauer, Jayne Valentine… Those four, correct?”
“That’s right. Did you watch them consume it?”
“No, I just swapped out the Phelopon they were carrying…”
I covered my eyes with my palm and let out a sigh. Should I teach her the obvious principle that every task must be handled with absolute certainty? After some thought, I decided against it.
After all, Alicia Floren was merely a long-term piece on the board. A tool to help me achieve my revenge. There was no need to mold her into a brilliant avenger. In fact, it might be better if she remained somewhat dim-witted.
“…Never mind. I’ll handle it myself. You did well.”
Perhaps because she rarely received praise, Alicia’s expression brightened noticeably. The way she couldn’t hide her joy at even the smallest kindness painted a clear picture of the kind of academy life she must have endured until now.
After the smile lingered on her lips for a while, Alicia suddenly twisted her fingers together and spoke cautiously.
“By the way… there’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“What exactly does it mean to turn me into the queen of the academy?”
“You don’t need to know. Just do as I tell you.”
I must have spoken too harshly. Alicia’s eyes clouded over slightly, but she obediently nodded.
“You’ll understand when the time comes.”
“I see.”
In any case, Alicia could not defy me. She stood at the very bottom of the academy’s hierarchy, possessing neither power nor ability worth mentioning. However, by the time this plan reached its conclusion… Alicia would hold authority that no one at the academy could challenge.
Power comparable to Louise Violet’s.
There cannot be two suns beneath the same sky. Friction between the two powers would be inevitable—and that was precisely what I intended. If everything went according to plan, Alicia Floren would crush Louise Violet and reign as the academy’s new queen.
That was why the hierarchy had to be crystal clear. It would be problematic if she and I ever stood on equal footing. I needed to make her understand without a shadow of doubt that the power she would wield rested entirely in the palm of my hand.
Humans who grasp power inevitably betray others. Even Alicia Floren—who loved justice more than anyone—would be no exception. There was only one way to prevent such treachery: crush her so thoroughly that betrayal became impossible.
“Huff… Huff…”
Jayne Valentine. Third daughter of the Valentine family, which had become enormously wealthy through its confectionery business. As she was heading toward the lecture hall, she was suddenly seized by a strange sensation—as if her breath was being stolen away.
It felt like… insects were crawling all over her body.
‘…I definitely took the antidote.’
Jayne Valentine knew exactly what this feeling was.
Phelopon withdrawal symptoms.
It was a sensation she had experienced once before.
– Ah… Aaaack!!! The antidote!! Bring it right now!!!
When she had first taken Phelopon, she had suffered terribly for failing to take the antidote on schedule. It was a horrific feeling she never wanted to experience again—one so awful that it remained vivid even five years later.
“Ugh… Uaa…”
Jayne collapsed in the middle of the path and gulped down the emergency antidote she had kept on hand. The sticky white liquid slid down her throat with heavy swallows.
“….. Hoo, ha… Hoo, ha.”
Jayne panted heavily, praying for this nightmare to end quickly.
But the pain only intensified.
‘…Why? Why is this happening?’
Veins bulged on her neck. Her face flushed red from lack of oxygen. A tingling sensation spread across her entire body, followed by excruciating pain that engulfed her completely.
“Eat.”
Just as her vision began to blur, someone thrust a vial in front of her.
“Drink it. Unless you want to die.”
Her ears were ringing so badly she couldn’t identify the speaker, but Jayne snatched the vial and drank its contents. The withdrawal symptoms that had been ravaging her body slowly receded, and her vision returned to normal.
Staring at her still-trembling fingertips, Jayne slowly regulated her breathing.
“Hoo… Thank y—”
When she lifted her head to express her gratitude, Jayne Valentine could not finish her sentence. She froze, gasping sharply.
“Feeling more clear-headed now?”
The person standing before her was someone she could never have imagined.
“Yes. You need to be clear-headed. There’s no point talking to someone who isn’t in their right mind.”
Alicia Floren.
She looked down at Jayne with a faint smile.
“How does it feel?”
“…Was it you, you filthy rag?”
Jayne glared up at Alicia with icy eyes.
“You’re making a mistake with that tone.”
As she spoke, Alicia pulled a small white envelope from her pocket.
“It’s a drug a hundred times stronger than regular Phelopon. I made some modifications… Right now, it’s already inside your body.”
“What? That’s insane—”
Jayne tried to dismiss it as nonsense, but then she remembered how much better she had felt yesterday compared to usual. She had thought it was just her imagination. After all, the effects of a drug could vary depending on one’s physical condition.
“From what I hear, the withdrawal symptoms are supposedly incomparable to those of ordinary Phelopon. The regular antidote doesn’t work at all. So? Feel the difference yet?”
Jayne realized cold sweat was pouring down her forehead. Unable to distinguish truth from lies, she desperately tried to find the best response. But the withdrawal symptoms from moments ago had left her mind too clouded to think straight.
‘If what she’s saying is true…’
The next time the symptoms hit, she would have to endure that unbearable agony again in full.
Strength drained from Jayne’s legs and she collapsed where she stood. Alicia stepped closer to the girl whose eyes had gone dull, lightly gripped the back of her head, and spoke softly.
“Don’t worry. If you just listen to me carefully, everything can be resolved.”
Jayne stared at Alicia with eyes full of fear and confusion.
“Answer me.”
A strange light flickered in Alicia’s eyes—one Jayne had never seen before.
“…I understand.”
“That answer is too short.”
“I… understand, ma’am.”
Only then did Alicia smile with satisfaction and rise to her feet.