The Nailed Malice and the Stark Naked Truth

I had found a small clue within Laura's memories. A spell I hadn't cast was interfering with her mind.

There was only one way to prove this hypothesis, at least for now. Since I didn't have any deep knowledge of magic to begin with, sitting here with my butt glued to a chair racking my brain wasn't going to do me any favors.

'I guess my only choice is to drag up Laura's sunken memories one by one.'

It was a crude, brute-force method, but in reality, Laura had tried desperately to recall those memories and failed. That alone was sufficient proof of unnatural manipulation.

Zzzt!

I conjured a tiny magic circle at my fingertips, aimed it at Laura, and swept my hand.

"Huh...?"

Just from that simple action, the scenery before my eyes completely warped.

"What... is this...? I didn't cast a teleportation spell..."

Laura, who should have been right in front of me, had vanished. The scenery of my room, which I had finally grown accustomed to, was gone. Instead, unnatural wooden walls crowded my vision, and a gently babbling river flowed over my feet, soaking them.

What on earth was happening? I had only cast a spell to awaken her dormant memories.

"Huh...?"

Amidst my confusion, a certain 'painting' hanging on the wooden wall caught my eye. The wooden walls tightly enclosing me were covered in countless paintings. It seemed impossible that just one out of so many could instantly capture my attention, but it was inevitable.

"This... is that carriage from back then..."

The painting depicted the very carriage from the day I saved Laura. There was no sign of 'my past self' being so easily and brutally murdered, but the image of that luxurious carriage was burned into my mind. And there it was, perfectly rendered on this wooden wall.

"What is this painting...? Why is something like this here?"

Bzzzzzt!

Flustered, I lightly touched the painting, and mana erupted from my fingertips. Instantly, a rush of 'memories' flooded into me.

The damp smell of rain pouring from the sky, the overwhelming stench of blood, the weak, agonizing cries of the horses, and even the ragged breathing of Laura suffering inside the shattered carriage...

"Huff, puff! Th-this...! This is Laura's memory?!"

I didn't understand the mechanics, but the answer was simple. Everything hanging on these wooden walls represented Laura's memories.

'Wait, if I can access all of these memories, then that means... Found it!'

I spotted a painting vividly depicting a smooth, pale lower belly and stroked it.

"Ah...!"

It was the same. The memory of Laura masturbating last night flooded into my mind with crystal clarity. The moment her maid left, she cleared her throat, hastily pulled down her nightgown and underwear, and gently caressed her private parts with her palm, stoking her desire. The scene was incredibly vivid. On top of that, because it was from Laura's first-person perspective, I could feel her emotions and her straining to look down past her breasts at her own pussy. It made it so much lewder!

'N-no... Get a grip, Ramnusia. Now is not the time to be peeping at such shameless memories.'

I slapped my cheeks twice and plunged my hands into the gently babbling river.

Honestly, with all these clues, it was obvious what kind of 'scenery' I was looking at. The paintings hanging on the wooden walls were memories Laura could consciously recall.

Then what were the paintings submerged beneath this river?

Naturally, they were her sunken, forgotten memories.

'Alright, let's pull one out...'

There were so many paintings submerged in the river.

'What is this... a bell pepper? I don't care about her memory of hating bell peppers... This one is her tripping and falling...'

Was I an idiot for thinking there would only be 'one' sunken memory? It didn't just feel like it would take a long time; it felt downright impossible.

'...Don't tell me there are actually more sunken memories than active ones? Well, of course there would be...'

Gulping, I looked back at the wooden walls. There were quite a few paintings hanging there too, but searching this side might actually be faster. Yes, if I thought about it, all I had to do was look for paintings featuring a combination of 'Clafoutis' and 'Ramnusia'. Or maybe checking any memory that depicted at least one of us would speed things up. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't waste time looking through trivial things like her going to the bathroom or screaming because her hair was a mess!

"Huh...?"

While scanning the walls, I spotted a bizarre frame. No, could I even call this a painting?

Large, crimson letters were stamped inside the frame where a painting should have been.

"What is this? Why are there letters... Huh?"

Right next to the frame containing that unpleasant sentence was another strange one.

'Wait, this is the spell I used.'

Looking next to it just in case, I saw another set of crimson letters stating that she must never speak of the wish.

What was this? Had someone previously cast a spell on Laura forcing her to hate 'Ramnusia Yuno'?

"Are they insane? Why?"

In a panic, I grabbed the frame declaring that she must loathe my very existence and yanked it off the wooden wall.

"Huh?"

I had definitely torn it down, yet an identical frame materialized in its place as if mocking me.

"What is this? What are you trying to do?! What are you?!"

Feeling a surge of indignation, I grabbed the frame once more. I pulled with all my might, and my body suddenly lost its balance, tilting backward.

Crash!

"Ugh...! My butt...!"

The frame I had been holding vanished into thin air, as if playing a trick on me.

"Huh? Where am I now? Wh-what is this?!"

Even Laura's memories that had surrounded me were gone. Once again, I had been transported to a space with a completely different atmosphere.

The floor was paved with gleaming marble, and the walls were made of a similar material. How should I describe this atmosphere? It felt like a gallery displaying incredibly precious and important treasures.

"...There are frames here too."

The vibe was completely different from before. While Laura's memories were housed in ordinary paintings with wooden frames, the frames here were made of solid gold. Inside these glittering gold frames were blank, pure white canvases.

"What does it say? '...pia's... only... existence...?' The letters are too faded, I can't read ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a thing."

And this was actually the frame with the most legible text. Most of the frames neatly arranged on the white tables had no writing at all, or if they did, the words were entirely erased or blurred.

"...Oh."

Perhaps because the white tables were so striking, I only noticed the frames hanging on the white walls much later.

I saw a frame containing the exact same sentence I had seen in Laura's memories.

What on earth was this? It was filled with scribbles that looked like the hateful rants of someone with a deeply twisted, warped personality scribbling in a notebook.

"...Who... would do such a thing...?"

Startled, I took a step forward, only to feel something crunch beneath my foot.

They were torn frames. Broken frames. Paintings with something written on them lay brutally shredded and scattered across the floor.

And the paintings I thought were 'hanging' on the wall weren't actually hanging at all.

"Who... nailed them to the wall...?"

Of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course, you have to use nails to hang a frame on a wall. I knew that, but the method here was completely wrong. What kind of idiot nails the canvas itself directly to the wall? It felt like some moron who didn't even know how to use a nail was desperately trying to force the paintings onto the wall by any means necessary.

"Someone... someone is trying to ruin Ramnusia Yuno's reputation..."

I knew next to nothing about magic, but I could feel a palpable, sickening malice radiating from the frames nailed to the wall.

Heave!

"Ugh...! My head, it's so dizzy...!"

I wanted to reach out and touch the frames, but it was impossible. Suddenly, the world violently shuddered. I couldn't keep my footing.

"Uuuugh...!"

In an instant, I was violently ejected back into reality.

The treasure-vault-like space vanished without a trace, and the babbling river of memories that had soaked my feet was gone. I had simply returned to my room.

And to make it instantly clear that I was back in reality, Laura was sitting right in front of me, blood dripping from her nose... Nosebleed?!

"W-wait! Laura!!! Y-you can't die!"

Laura, sitting there blankly, was indeed bleeding from her nose. It wasn't just a pretty drop or two; it was streaming down, staining her thighs.

"Laura!! Laura! Please wake up!"

I hastily canceled the active spell, grabbed a nearby handkerchief, and pressed it against her nose.

"Ugh, ngh... Ah, cough...! Ramnusia! My head hurts, so stop making such a fuss!"

Wearing nothing but a single pair of beige panties, Laura glared at me, took the handkerchief, and wiped her mouth and nose.

"Laura, are you alright? You suddenly started bleeding from your nose."

"Why am I bleeding...? What were we even talking about in the first place...?"

Because I had been forcibly ejected from her memories, Laura was highly disoriented.

"We were talking about Clafoutis-senpai, and then you suddenly started bleeding."

"...Ugh, my body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠has been a mess lately. Anyway, thank you for the handkerchief, Ramnusia."

Thank you? From Laura?

"U-Um, Laura... Did you just th-thank me?"

"Of course. You helped me, so it's only natural to say thank you. Fufu, did you think a daughter of the Arnold family would lack such basic manners?"

"N-no, it's not that! Just the other day, whenever I spoke to you, you'd scream at me and call me disgusting."

"That... that was... Huh...?"

Laura tilted her head and touched her cheek.

"I... don't really know."

What was with this reaction? What was with this behavior?!

Don't tell me... Did tearing down that frame in her memories—the one that said 'The very existence of Ramnusia Yuno is filthy'—cause this change?

"Y-you don't know? After you bullied me so much...!"

"...I apologize for that. As a fellow lady, it was rather... Ugh, my head is completely scrambled."

Laura let out a painful groan, her brow furrowing deeply.

Is she acting like this because she can't even justify to herself why she hated me so much until now? It didn't seem like she was acting.

"My head... hurts so much. Ramnusia... can we talk about this later? The back of my head is throbbing."

"S-S-Sure. But Laura... do you remember why you said it's impossible for me not to know Clafoutis-senpai?"

Laura looked at me for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle.

"Of course I remember. Ramnusia... don't tell me you've actually forgotten?"

"W-Well... my memory has been a bit... hazy lately. Just like how your head is scrambled, my thoughts are also a bit..."

Laura looked at me with a fleeting expression of pity.

"Well, I suppose... it might be better to forget an embarrassment that will go down in human history."

"C-Could you tell me again, Laura?"

"...You really don't remember that accident? Fine. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal."

Hearing her openly call it an 'accident' made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Don't tell me I killed Clafoutis's close friend or something truly horrific like that?

"It happened during a practical magic class. I told you, it wasn't a big deal. The magic you cast went out of control and attacked Clafoutis-senpai."

"I-I-I attacked Clafoutis-senpai?! W-Was she badly hurt?"

"No, she wasn't hurt at all."

Laura blinked, staring at me.

"You really don't remember any of this, do you, Ramnusia?"

"I-I'm asking because I genuinely don't remember!"

"Your magic went haywire and... cleanly teleported Clafoutis-senpai's clothes away."

"S-So she was left in her underwear..."

"No. It stripped her completely naked. Stark naked."

Ramnusia made such an absurd mistake?

"Oh my goodness..."

"That wasn't all. Clafoutis-senpai was on her period that day. She was crying, her face bright red with humiliation. And..."

"Th-There's more?"

Laura suddenly gave a bitter smile.

"Ramnusia. Do you really not remember?"

When I nodded, Laura let out a sigh.

"Clafoutis-senpai called you after school that day... Don't you remember her taking you to the Black Magic Classroom?"

The Black Magic Classroom? Don't tell me it's that classroom? The one where Laura climbed onto my face and rubbed her pussy all over me?!

"In that classroom, there was me... and the other ladies who had participated in the practical class. And Clafoutis-senpai stripped you completely naked and punished you. You don't remember?"

"...C-Clafoutis-senpai did that?"

"Yes. Even when you cried and begged for forgiveness, her expression didn't change once. My heart practically froze watching it."

I covered my mouth with both hands. It wasn't because I was terrified of the buried history I was hearing.

Then why... why did Clafoutis-senpai speak to me so warmly with a smile in the infirmary...?

The buried memories of Laura and the genius mages. The answer hovered just out of reach, teasing me right before my eyes.