022. The Process
022. The Process
The thing eating away at my body is a super-duper weird chronic illness.
Hing-hing. I heard I've had it since I was born.
Like, my mana acts in super-duper complicated, jagged ways.
Starting from my lungs and spreading to the surrounding areas.
Lena told me it's a disease that makes my body harden very slowly. Very slowly.
Uhehe. But like, it was fine in the past.
Even just a year ago, it was totally, super fine. My body was even able to fly around.
Ing-hing-hing. But not anymore.
Because this is the kind of disease where, if you drink super expensive elixirs every month, you can live normally without any problems until you die.
Hehe.
It was fine back then, though.
"Cool, cough, keuheok......."
Like, like, I can't breathe.
It feels like my lungs are, like, swollen...
Uhehehe. But it's okay.
Even if my body doesn't move, it's really, super okay.
Because... I'm still conscious.
It was a relief because the situation is way, way better than last time.
If my consciousness cuts out like a power switch turning off or a fuse blowing, heok-heok-heok!, that's super hard in its own way.
But right now, my consciousness is still there and only my body won't move, so it's fine.
So.
"U, uuu, uu......."
I forced myself to hold back the groans leaking out.
Because I shouldn't get caught.
So.
I just need to wait a little bit.
Like always, if I just endure it for a very short while, my body will become perfectly fine again.
Because I can't collapse here yet...
Hing-hing-hing.
But now that I'm in this state, I keep thinking about Yuna so, so much.
Hehe. I like Yuna because she's really, super pretty.
But I don't just like her because she's super pretty.
Yuna... she breaks through obstacles so coolly.
That side of her was super pretty and dazzling.
So I, too.
I wanted to break through obstacles.
Like, like, I wanted to move forward. Hing-hing.
It's okay if I don't stand by Yuna's side.
I couldn't do that anyway, and Yuna would get super angry and hate it if I did.
But it's okay if I just support her from behind.
Like, she might super hate it, be disgusted, and not like it at all...
But if I just stand behind her super quietly...
Then Yuna won't even notice...
So, for now.
"No, not...... yet......"
How much time had passed?
Puseuseuk- I heard the sound of someone pushing through the bushes.
Someone stood right in front of me.
"I've told you so many times to stop doing such stupid things......."
A familiar voice.
It was Clara.
Hing-hing. Did she come to find me because she was worried?
But why would she be worried?
I, I am, like... a super-duper disgrace to the Witri Family, Clara's family.
I made a mistake just now.
I'm not even a person, really.
Because the Witri Family is a family that's just itching to kill me...
In their eyes, I probably don't even look like a person.
But Clara was shedding tears.
What is she so, like, super sad about?
Memories of seeing her.......
I don't really have any.
I do remember stopping by the Witri Family's main house in the Northern Territory, which is super far from the Academy.
But that's all.
Because I only had Yuna on my mind, I didn't want to stay there long, so I just finished my business and returned to the Academy super-duper quickly.
It takes a really, really long time to get there. I think it takes about... a fortnight by carriage?
So I haven't been there often.
I haven't seen Clara often either.
But. Hing-hing.
She slowly lifted my body up.
And slowly transferred some soft, sticky liquid.
From mouth to mouth.
Hmm, nyom-nyom-nyom.......
This is a super familiar bitter taste.
It's the taste of a super bitter elixir.
'Why this......?'
Clara looked at me with, like, sad eyes.
But she shouldn't do that.
Because she's from the Witri Family.
She should, like, hate me and be dying to kill me... that's how it should be.
It was really, super weird.
"For now...... let's go back."
Clara slowly picked me up in her arms.
My eyes started to close slowly.
......It was a little comfortable.
*
"Where...... are you."
That person is definitely here.
Was here.
I'm sure of it.
That person, no...... she definitely.
Definitely, in this place, prepared a precious gift.
In time for her own birthday.
The circumstantial evidence is certain, but there's no physical evidence anywhere.
Yuna Castilla.
She circled the clock tower again and again, searching the surroundings thoroughly.
And she found nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
"Why, why...... why...."
They were within reach if I just stretched out my hand.
And yet.
I missed them.
I blew the last chance to confirm that person's identity like this.
"I, I......."
I wanted to meet that person.
I wanted to meet them and say thank you.
"Why, why is it like this......."
I was regretful.
Because of the bouquet I'm clutching to my chest.
Because of the birthday gift that person gave me with all their heart.
In the end, I lost the chance to chase after that person.
It was truly ironic.
I just wanted to confirm that person.
......Her.
It was just because all of Yuna's attention was focused there.
The fact that she didn't notice the stranger watching the back of Yuna's head as she walked away listlessly with narrowed eyes.
Yuna still hasn't read Aria's warning left on the note.
*
The family's unwritten rule.
The Witri Family is tasked with reclaiming and protecting the desolate Northern Territory.
The endless Great Northern Wilderness.
To stop the swarms of monsters pouring out from there.
The Witri Family was desperate.
So.
'......You can't protect anything with a weak body like that. So, she should have died.'
Blood is thicker than water.
The desire for survival is the same.
The Witri Family never, no matter what happens, splits up.
It's a method of always being loyal to the Family Head and concentrating everything the family has on the successor.
"......Then why."
Clara Witri.
Her uncle, the current Family Head.
"Why did you make my sister, Aria...... into this state?"
If only he had killed her the moment she was born.
Before I came to admire her.
Before I held Aria in my heart.
If he had removed her quickly, none of this would have happened.
Clara stared intently at Aria, who was lying on her bed.
And.
She pressed her own forehead against her white, fair forehead.
"The fever is gone now. So...... you're okay now."
The timing of obtaining the elixir was too close for comfort.
It's because I traded on the black market to avoid the family's eyes.
Aria Witri.
She is alive.
She must be alive.
Her physique, physical condition, hair color, personality, and everything else are exactly the same.
Clara could be satisfied with that.
Until she saw with her own two eyes what Aria had become.
"That bitch born from that woman is not my daughter! Since I raised her, I'll be satisfied with just kicking her out!"
'You were fooled quite nicely, Family Head.'
The fact that she, who has the 'real' blood of the Witri Family flowing in her, looks so much like Aria that they could be twins.
How on earth does he plan to explain that?
Clara was impatient.
Because she moved as soon as she heard the news that Aria had been kicked out.
She ran at full speed from the cold North, the desolate Northern fortress, to the Academy.
"If only......."
I had come a little faster.
Aria Witri.
I could have prevented her from ending up like this.
'You don't have to remember.'
It doesn't matter what kind of face Aria Witri treats me with.
Because Clara remembers everything.
The reason I came to admire her.
The help she gave me.
Everything, all of it.
So this time, it's Clara's turn to pay her back.
So.
'If Aria has nowhere to go.......'
The house I prepared in the eastern countryside isn't super big.
But...... it's just big enough for two people to live in.
So please, I hope you wake up.
"......Sister."
I've already planned everything.
When Aria wakes up, I'll go back to the North with her and oust the Family Head.
That guy is crazy. He was a madman who would do this even to his own daughter.
And after returning Aria's rightful rights.
'And, and then.......'
Clara blushed a little.
It was a short while later that Aria woke up.
*
My body is really super-duper!
Like, I feel like I could fly...... not really.
Hing-hing. Because I have to go see if the gift I left behind was delivered properly.
Yuna must have been busy yesterday too.
Because...... she had a super-duper fun birthday party.
Uhehe. I know how fun birthday parties are, too.
But I've never actually had one.
It's really contradictory. I've never had one, even though it's not like it's fun. Hing-hing.
"Hmph, you're so clumsy, sister."
"Yeah, yeah."
Clara said that and turned her head.
Uuu... I also let my head drop listlessly.
Clara Witri.
It seems like she saved me because she had some other intention.
For example, like, some weird order came down from the Witri Family......
Or that they chose me as a living sacrifice for human sacrifice....
I didn't make it up, it's actually in the game.
Because this super unreasonable and weird game has 'curse, friendship, and adventure' as its catchphrase....
'B-but...'
If I get dragged off as a sacrifice for human sacrifice right now, it's really, super troublesome.
Because I haven't seen Yuna's face yet.
I do have things I want to tell her... but Yuna hates me, so I feel like she wouldn't listen to anything I say and would just get angry, so I can't do that. Hing-hing.
But that was when it happened.
Knock-knock- I heard a knock.
"You know you're constantly being a nuisance, right? I'll go check, so don't move at all and just stay still. It's not like I'm worried or anything. I'm just saying, don't increase my workload for no reason."
Hing-hing. I nodded.
Then I heard the sound of the door opening with a bang!
Who on earth could it be......?
But I heard a voice that I somehow recognized....