Chapter 104: Shallowness, Absurdity, and a Total Mess
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 104: Shallowness, Absurdity, and a Total Mess
“Aaaaaaaagh—!!!!!!”
Resin’s screams continued, but I didn’t stop spamming the close button.
Part of me wanted to grab her arm, snap it, and throw her out, but more than that, I just didn’t want to have even the slightest bit of physical contact with her.
“Alto! I’ll pull it out! I’ll pull my arm out! Please!”
Unable to endure it any longer, Resin finally surrendered and agreed to withdraw her arm.
She should have done that from the start.
Instead of spouting bullshit, ignoring me would have been much closer to the right answer.
Keeping my expression blank, I took my finger off the close button, and only then did the elevator doors slide open.
Resin, whose arm had been caught in the gap, collapsed forward onto the floor.
I stepped aside to avoid her, but Resin just lay there, half-dangling out of the elevator, twitching.
“Sigh.”
What rotten luck.
I knew I’d run into them eventually, but I didn’t expect her to change her tune and cling to me like this.
Especially not Resin.
I never imagined that woman—so arrogant and always looking down on others—would be panting at my feet.
Haha, wait, that’s not right.
She was panting before.
Back at the Party House, she and Mirei were both panting for Claude.
There’s a reason I can’t forgive Resin, and it’s different from why I can’t forgive Krima.
If Krima deceived me to take out a loan, Resin and Mirei did something else: they were screwing in the Party House, a place that was essentially our home.
Whether I was there that day or not is a secondary issue.
Bringing a man into the Party House for that purpose was an insult to me.
And they did it on my birthday, didn’t they?
Above all, even if she realized it late, Diane repented for her mistakes regardless of my status. She apologized sincerely and proved it through her actions.
But what is this bitch?
Her attitude only changed after she found out who I really was.
And that attitude is rotten to the core.
Acting like nothing happened, she actually has the nerve to talk back to me?
What?
“You made mistakes too, but I also messed up”?
How dare you try to put yourself on the same level as me.
If nothing else, I think Bisharen was right this time, and I intend to follow his lead.
“Ugh… Alto! Alto. I was wrong. I’m sorry for upsetting you! Please, just give me a chance…!”
“Sigh.”
Now I get it.
I understand why Bisharen didn’t stop at just ignoring people but went as far as using violence.
I put both hands in my pockets and lazily lifted my foot.
Press.
I slowly ground my heel into Resin’s shapely calf.
“Gaaaaah! Ugh, uuuuuugh…!”
As I pressed down on the muscle and pressure points with just the right amount of force, Resin thrashed about, slamming her palms against the floor.
“Alto! Alto! Altoooooo!”
This actually feels strangely cathartic.
To have Resin—the very embodiment of those who treated me like trash—begging for mercy like a pathetic, yapping dog.
But she was so contemptible that the amusement didn’t last long.
People were starting to gather nearby, and drawing attention wasn’t good for several reasons, so I decided to call it a day and head back to my room.
“Alto… please don’t go…!”
I’ll have to tell Narupa everything when she gets back.
And through her, I’ll send word to the Magic Tower.
Tell them never to let these bitches show their faces in front of me again.
I tried to walk away, but something caught my leg.
Looking down, I saw that Resin had somehow shifted positions. She was hugging my ankle, laughing like a madwoman.
“Alto, so this is your taste? Hehe… he… I-I’m not used to it, but I’ll try my best. If you want, you can hit me until my whole body is bruised red.”
She tried desperately to strike up a conversation, but her smile trembled under my icy gaze, and tears began to well in her eyes.
“I know you’re angry. I really do. I spoke out of turn. Alto, but it has to be you. I joined the party in the first place because I only had eyes for you.”
“Oh?”
I shouldn’t do this.
“You only had eyes for me when you joined the party?”
I should probably give her a ruthless beating like Bisharen would, just to stop the nonsense.
“Yes! Of course! Only for you, Alto…”
“And is that why you were busy sucking some other guy’s dick along with the party leader?”
The sound of onlookers gasping and whispering erupted simultaneously.
“She did that while having a man in her party?”
“Isn’t she the salutatorian from the last class?”
“Really? Which class?”
Resin’s face flushed red at the murmurs of the other mages.
I wondered if that redness was from shame or rage.
“That’s a misunderstanding, Alto. That was…!”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”
It was so absurd that I actually wanted to hear her answer.
Even though I knew it would only make my blood boil, I found myself listening. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.
“Claude, that bastard was just a fling! I was never cheating on you, Alto!”
No.
It seems curiosity just makes the cat go ballistic.
Extremely ballistic.
“A fling?”
“Yes, yes! My heart has always belonged to you, Alto…”
“Was it also a ‘fling’ when you walked around all of Lukart kissing Claude and letting him keep his hand on your waist?”
“I… I wasn’t thinking straight then…”
“Resin. Resin Luna.”
“Yes, Alto! Ah, finally, you’re calling my name…!”
“I’m going to ask you one thing. Just one. And you’d better answer it very carefully.”
“I won’t disappoint you. Ask me anything! I’ll prove that my body and soul belong to you!”
“Really? Can I believe that?”
“Yes, of course!”
In that case,
I suppose I can finally ask the question I’ve been so curious about.
What the hell were you thinking? Just how much of a pushover did you take me for?
It was time to ask about the incident that made even the cynical me unable to laugh, leaving me white-hot with rage instead.
“Resin.”
“Yes, Alto!”
“I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious.”
“Yes!”
“Why… why did you invite Claude to the Party House and do that with Mirei?”
“Huh…?”
Her face, which had been glowing with the thrill of me actually talking to her, froze instantly.
“W-what do you mean…?”
“I heard you guys searched for me desperately after I left.”
“Yes, yes! We looked for you so much.”
“That day, you see… it was my only day off.”
Because even I wanted to be celebrated for once.
So, I pushed myself to finish all my work the day before and, for the first time in a long while, slept until just before lunch.
Actually, since I hadn’t gone to bed until well after dawn, it wasn’t even really sleeping in.
“While I was sleeping, I heard a strange noise. A sound that seemed painful, yet somehow full of pleasure.”
“Alto…?”
“I thought a thief had broken in. Or maybe you guys were just playing around. I hoped it was something like that.”
“What are you even talking about…?”
“As soon as I entered the hallway leading to the drawing room, I had a bad feeling. I heard ominous sounds.”
I let out a small chuckle.
“I didn’t know it well back then, but it was the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I held my breath and peeked into the drawing room, and there was Claude—one of Lukart’s most handsome men—busy devouring you and Mirei.”
“A-Alto…”
“Yeah, and you were busy fawning over him, calling him ‘Sir,’ ‘Sir.’ Just like you’re doing to me now.”
I leaned down willingly to meet Resin’s eyes.
“Resin, why did you bring a stranger into the Party House I provided and do that with the party leader?”
“……”
“Is that within the scope of your ‘fling’?”
“T-that’s…”
“Or is it within yours, Mirei?”
I looked up at the elevator. Standing there was Mirei, looking disheveled and holding a shovel covered in dirt.
Clang!
The shovel fell uselessly from Mirei’s trembling hand, her face contorted with shock.
“The two of you.”
I’ve never smoked, but for some reason, I really wanted a cigarette right now.
“Do you even remember my birthday?”
You probably don’t even know why I’m asking this.
“That day was my birthday.”
“…?!”
“Sigh…”
Resin’s eyes widened, and Mirei let out a resigned sigh.
“Right, so Claude was just a fling.”
“Alto, I… I can explain everything…!”
“Quite the fling I never could have imagined. Right. So that’s the extent of a ‘fling’ for you. Our definitions are very different.”
I lifted my trapped ankle.
Resin was dragged up along with it.
“It seems our ways of thinking just don’t align. I’m sorry, Resin. I’m sorry, Mirei. I guess I was forcing women who weren’t a good fit to stay in my party.”
“No, no! Alto! It’s my fault. It’s all my fault! If I had known it was you… no! No! I should have adjusted everything to you, Alto…!”
“Let go of my foot.”
“Alto…!”
“I said let go.”
“I’ll do better. I have no one but you now, Alto! I’ll never look at anyone else again! Alto!”
“No one but me? That sounds like you would have naturally gone to another man if you had any other choice.”
“That’s not it at all! No. I, I can explain…”
“You already failed to answer my question. You’ve only succeeded in admitting your own infidelity.”
“It’ll never happen again! Alto, I was so foolish. I want to strip everything off and show you. If we could just be alone… even my heart… Ah!”
Resin suddenly cried out and pointed at Mirei.
“I—I’ve even prepared a gift. Look, that bitch was serious! She was serious about that impotent bastard Claude! Unlike me, she was!”
“What the hell are you blabbering about?!”
“You’re the one who rolled around with Claude first and dragged me into it! You’re the cause! You! If it weren’t for you, I could have stayed pure by Alto’s side!”
“You crazy bitch! Alto, that’s not it. No, it’s the opposite! The opposite!”
Mirei scrambled to refute her in a panic, while Resin lashed out with bloodshot eyes.
Sigh.
Curiosity.
That damn curiosity is a killer.
Just as I expected, my insides felt like they were burning to ash.
I didn’t care what the two of them were screaming at each other.
I just wanted to rest.
I wanted to go back to my room, vent to Yarismal, get comforted by Narupa, and fall asleep hugging Rune.
I wanted to escape from everything that was exhausting me—from these two bitches.
So,
“Let go of my foot, Resin.”
“Alto. I’ve really changed. I’m different now, I’m different!”
“Let go.”
“It’s because that bitch is still alive, right? Ah, you should have said so. I thought you’d want to handle her yourself, so I was being inconsiderate. I’ll immediately…”
“Let go of that ankle, Resin.”
The last voice wasn’t mine.
It was a small but clear voice coming from a distance.
The air turned from chilly to freezing.
The temperature dropped with every rhythmic click of approaching footsteps.
“You…”
With every step she took, the hallway froze over—clunky yet delicate.
A spark flared in Resin’s eyes as she recognized the newcomer.
But even Resin was shivering from the cold.
Finally, Narupa, who had walked up right behind me, looked down at Resin.
“Let go of my husband’s ankle. You dirty slut who sucks the dick of an impotent bastard.”