Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Day and Night #1
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“Theo, how much of what I say can you believe?”
Narmi asked me with a serious expression.
My dorm room, where we were the only two people—a man and a woman. The faint, drowsy light of the stand lamp glistened off Narmi’s lips, accompanied by the rustling sounds of Squirrel Kungkung.
━Woof woof.
Suddenly, everything assaulted my senses all at once.
I struggled to stay calm as I asked back.
“What story are you trying to tell me? Of course I believe everything you say, Lady Narmi.”
“Then listen carefully to what I say from now on without misunderstanding. I barely managed to make time for this.”
Narmi hesitated quite a bit.
From my strange life experiences across two lives—one short, one long enough to call so—the words from people who hesitated like this were almost always important matters.
Knowing that made tension build naturally.
“I’m ready to listen. Please tell me whenever you’ve gathered your thoughts.”
“Well, this is about my sister.”
“About Lady Mirna Draco?”
I tensed up for no reason. I wondered if she had somehow noticed that Mirna and I had gotten that close.
“What about your sister?”
“My sister—Mirna—she’s been breaking a ton of rules lately…!”
Narmi’s attitude was somewhat agitated.
They had the exact same face as Mirna, but seeing different emotions expressed on it made it hard to get used to. It even felt like she was tricking me all by herself, playing two roles in one.
Hiding those feelings, I calmly asked back.
“Breaking rules? That’s awful. But may I ask what those rules are?”
“The rules are our sisters’ code…! It’s the pact bound by blood between my sister and me…! No matter what happens, we have to follow it, but she isn’t…!”
“For now, why don’t you sit down and calm yourself a bit? Then you can explain.”
I got the somewhat flustered Narmi to sit on the bed. At the same time, I could vaguely understand what was going on.
The ladies of House Draco.
Narmi and Mirna were people sharing one body.
It might seem like a split personality or dissociative identity disorder.
But based on my recent close observations, they were literally two souls inhabiting one body.
So it was different from split personalities or identity disorders. If someone asked exactly how it was different, even I’d struggle to explain.
They might actually be closer to conjoined twins.
Born that way, they truly shared one body like a public good.
Naturally, there would be a lot of rules like that.
Even back at the orphanage, using the communal computer required following all sorts of rules. If that was their body, they’d need an enormous number of rules.
They couldn’t just let one recklessly get hurt.
Narmi, sitting on the bed and seeming to have calmed down, slowly parted her lips.
“During the day, it’s my sister’s turn. At night, it’s mine. That’s our rule for taking control of the body. That’s why I guarded the family mausoleum at night.”
I recalled the day I accepted Mirna’s invitation and went to the Draco family villa. Indeed, from late that night, Narmi had been guarding the family mausoleum alone.
Narmi had looked terribly lonely, so I remembered playing chess with her. But Narmi spoke of it casually.
“Mirna handles the tough stuff during the day, so I could easily guard the mausoleum alone at night. But lately, there’s been a problem…!”
“A problem?”
“Ever since the mausoleum disappeared, my sister’s been trying to take control at night too. Night is supposed to be my time, but she’s acting like she can keep this body all to herself.”
Narmi looked extremely angry. That expression reminded me of my little siblings back home—kids who’d tattle to me when their older brother or sister hogged the computer and wouldn’t let them have a turn.
A memory suddenly surfaced, nearly making me smile, but I feigned sympathy and empathized with her anger.
“I see. That’s a big problem.”
“It’s a huge problem…!”
“This is just idle curiosity, but what is Lady Mirna doing right now?”
“My sister’s sleeping now. She stayed up every night instead of me lately, so she’s finally tired. Hmph.”
In short, Narmi seemed dissatisfied with her sister, who had been taking control of the body most of the time lately.
The reason she was telling me was probably because I was one of the few who knew her secret. I was the only one she could trust.
But for me, hearing the same face badmouthing the same face felt a bit odd.
* * *
For the next thirty minutes or so, Narmi kept badmouthing her sister Mirna.
“And what else? Oh! My sister Mirna uses way too much toothpaste when brushing her teeth! And she squeezes the tube from the middle in big globs! I’ve told her a bunch of times to start from the end!”
“That must be tough.”
“And lately, she’s been putting way too much sugar in her tea. I hate it because it makes my body feel heavy if I eat too much sweet stuff, but she doesn’t listen!”
“Hmm. Yeah, too much sugar isn’t good.”
“Right? And what else? Oh! I like peach-scented stuff, but she uses apple mint shampoo? And only apple mint perfume too!”
So Mirna’s apple mint scent came from her shampoo and perfume.
Anyway, the complaints were all petty like that.
They might seem trivial to an outsider like me, but family fights often build up from these small things, leaving deep grudges.
Since they shared one body, they probably needed even stricter rules between sisters.
Mirna’s usual strict adherence to discipline and norms probably stemmed more from this physical trait than just being a devout member of House Draco.
“Talking about it makes me feel better.”
After rattling off complaints about her sister for a while, Narmi seemed to regain her composure.
Sometimes just venting to someone can loosen the knots in your chest.
But now that rational Narmi had returned, she seemed to realize she’d said too much and warned me.
“Theo, don’t tell anyone what I said today. Not even my sister Mirna.”
“Of course. You and I keep each other’s secrets, Lady Narmi.”
“Yeah.”
I suddenly got curious.
“But if we’re talking like this, can Lady Mirna hear us?”
“Not unless we’re facing each other in a mirror.”
I see.
So Narmi and my conversations—and vice versa, Mirna and my conversations—generally couldn’t be overheard by the other twin. I wondered where the limit was.
“Then if you got seriously hurt, Lady Narmi, would Mirna feel it?”
“No, even that’s hard to feel usually. That’s caused so many problems? We’ve fought a lot when sudden cuts appeared on fingers or arms. Asking why we got hurt and all.”
Fascinating.
But if I kept probing like she was some lab experiment, Narmi might get upset, so I decided to stop.
“Whew. But why is this room so hot? It’s sweltering.”
Rustle. Narmi unfolded a fan and fanned her face.
Her face was very flushed, beads of sweat forming—not just from heat, but like someone tensed up from extreme nervousness.
“Should I open a window?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m leaving soon anyway. Oh, before that. Lately during the day, has my sister been acting suspicious or anything?”
“Suspicious how?”
“Never mind. Forget it.”
Narmi started to say something but stopped.
From what I could infer, Mirna had been getting worked up over her bet with Elga lately and probably hadn’t told her little sister Narmi about it, keeping it secret.
Narmi knew nothing.
That made her seem a bit pitiful.
So to comfort Narmi and also deepen my bond with the Draco ladies, I subtly suggested.
“If you’re mad because your sister’s hiding things and acting on her own, why not do the same to her, Lady Narmi? It might make you feel better.
“The same?”
“You do things behind her back too. Things you couldn’t do because of the rules.”
“Like getting a tattoo on the body without her knowing?”
“…You could see it that way. But a tattoo might be a bit much…”
“What’s the point of me taking care of it if she just uses it recklessly anyway! Anyway, you’re right, Theo. I can’t just keep taking it lying down. Good thing I talked to you.”
I was glad Narmi looked cheered up. But I worried if she actually got a tattoo, it might irreparably ruin their sisterly bond.
Did I say too much?
Then something occurred to me.
“How about earrings?”
“Earrings?”
Narmi’s earlobes looked soft and squishy. And they were smooth, without any piercing marks.
“Pierce your ears for earrings without her knowing.”
“Earrings…”
“Then you’d have a way to differentiate from your sister. It’d give you your own unique style, don’t you think?”
“Earrings…”
Earrings were better than a tattoo. At least that’s what I thought. And it seemed intriguing to Narmi too.
“Earrings… Now that you mention it, they sound great. Hey Theo, want to go buy some with me right now?”
“Right now? Is there anywhere selling earrings at this hour?”
It was past nine or ten in the evening. Shops in the academy grounds would be closing by now.
That’s why I couldn’t help but question Narmi’s suggestion to go out. But Narmi narrowed her eyes and chuckled—huhu.
“Theo, looks like you know nothing about the night?”
Whoosh. Grab.
Narmi took my hand. Then she pulled me out of the room toward somewhere.
“Let’s go! I’ll show you how I spend my nights…!”
Her bold, proactive attitude was something I’d never seen in Mirna, so my heart pounded a little.
She’d show me how she spends her nights.
It sounded awfully suggestive.
Of course, it probably didn’t mean that.