034. Trial (3)
034. Trial (3)
Dragging her legs.
Puk! Aria tripped and fell, and two people quickly approached her side.
"I told you to be careful.... Why are you rushing ahead all by yourself?"
"I wish you'd stop being so stubborn, Aria...."
"S-sorry......."
Aria couldn't hide her anxious heart.
Because, just... lately, Yuna had started to disappear from sight.
I heard she was suspended for about 3 days.
But even after that.
Even after that time passed....
She didn't show her face anywhere.
'B-but.......'
A vibrant season where vegetation grew lushly.
In terms of time, it was April.
The promotion evaluation period was approaching.
The same went for the Great Forest located in the north of the Academy.
"......If it were up to me, I'd want to just skip this promotion evaluation."
Clara muttered that and looked at Aria.
With a gaze that looked incredibly desperate.
'...Why?'
Why is she so obsessed with the promotion evaluation?
Because of whom?
Recently, Yuna Castilla has also been quiet.
Her group's whereabouts were also unknown.
Only Rachel had shown herself to Aria a few times with a dark expression.
'Ha.......'
It was then.
A butterfly fluttering through the air.
Stopped its wingbeats in the void.
And landed on top of Aria's head.
"Get it off! Get it off!"
Seeing Aria shouting like that, a small smile formed on Clara's face.
Alisa was the same.
'......Compared to the past when there was no laughter at all, I suppose this is better.'
Alisa didn't know Aria very well.
It was just that rumors about her being incredibly scary were rampant.
Always with an expressionless face, aloofly.
And proudly walking around with her own group.
Yuna Castilla.
I heard she viciously bullied anything that was an eyesore, including her.
To that extent.......
'Honestly, I don't know if it was actually vicious or not.'
At least Alisa knew the Arias of the previous worlds.
This Aria was... truly a soft-hearted angel.
An angel filled with incredibly scary rumors.
The situations where people dropped out of the Academy or their minds broke and they went crazy were much rarer than in previous worlds.
And above all.
'The ones Aria bullied in this world were only really bad kids.'
Those who caused trouble time and time again, stirred up mischief, and had bad rumors swirling around them.
Those who eventually submitted to the 'Cult' and destroyed the Academy from within.
Strangely, in this world, such people were barely visible.
Even though I had memorized all their names and faces.
Because Alisa had always been caught by them and died.
'......It wouldn't be for my sake, would it?'
It was nothing more than a coincidence.
Alisa was a perfect adult who had experienced the world repeating over and over again.
Aria was... still just a kid.
'But.'
Regardless of the intention.
Aria's actions planted hope in her.
If so........
Alisa also wanted to become Aria's hope.
'......Forget about a kid like Yuna Castilla, and with me, with me....'
"Heu."
Alisa's face flushed a little.
Seeing that, Clara lightly stepped on Alisa's foot.
"What are you thinking about? Staring blankly at my sister."
"N-nothing."
She's been getting quick-witted lately.
Alisa thought that and hurriedly shifted her gaze.
"......Should I think of this as a good thing?"
Clara slowly grabbed the butterfly that had been on Aria's head.
And its wings.......
She gently unfolded them and sent it far away.
"Hmph, if it were a bee, I would've turned it into dust."
Since it wasn't a creature that had specifically harmed Aria.
'If it were my sister, how would she have acted in the opposite situation?'
When Clara was framed by the family, lost everything, and even suffered torture that was hard to put into words.
When she was left alone at the Academy with a broken mind.
If Aria, the successor of the Witri Family, had come to find her.
How would Aria have treated her?
'......She would have started by slapping my cheek first.'
The main house of the family located in the Northern Territory.
The Aria that Clara had seen over her shoulder would mercilessly whip servants who made mistakes.
"How dare you think of putting this into the food."
"......My daughter was being held hostage. The merchants said if they put this in the food to make the Witri Family their 'customers,' they would definitely let her go..."
I didn't really know what the story was.
Aria Witri stared intently at the bottle containing the white powder.
Then dropped it onto the floor with a thud.
And slowly, very slowly, pressed down on the head of the servant who was prostrate on the ground.
"You'll regret it. You, and those bastards too."
"......I am prepared. Please, please, at least my daughter..."
That was all I knew about it.
A while later, one servant disappeared.
And the merchant guild that had made a name for itself in the territory disappeared without a trace.
And.
A young girl with a face I hadn't seen before was hired as a new servant at the main house.
I only knew facts to that extent.
"Uuu...... I don't like butterflies. If you touch them, like, powder comes out, and if it gets in your eyes, you go blind."
A-and then, the other eye becomes unable to see too.......
Aria Witri didn't bother to add such words.
"Pu-heup, sister. That won't happen, so don't worry."
Because I'm here.
Definitely, that day.
The day Clara made a grave mistake and smeared the family name.
The day she broke off the engagement with the neighboring Count's family.
The very day the Head of the family tried to kill her.
"There is a better way, Father."
Aria smoothed everything over.
Of course, she herself didn't really think about it, nor did she keep it in her memory.
Because it was an event that was supposed to happen anyway.
Because she just brought the solution that appeared in the story.
However.
To Clara, it was never trivial, nor was it 'something that was supposed to happen.'
She began to admire Aria.
Because the sight of Aria doing everything thoroughly.
And finishing things cleanly was just too dazzling.
An idol.
She was her idol.
"Hand...... will you hold it?"
"Yes."
Even though now.
Everything has become twisted and tangled because of the damn curse, the damn Head of the family, the damn situation.
And because of that cursed Yuna Castilla, it's become difficult even to untangle it.
Clara didn't give up on anything.
Just like Aria did.
Just like she saved her from the crazed Head of the family.
This time, she.
Proudly.
She intended to move forward very proudly.
Together with Aria.
'I-I even bought a house...... and I'm slowly siphoning off assets.'
But if there's one important problem.
......What should I do about a child?
The main duty given to a daughter of a noble family is the production of an heir.
Adopting a child from an orphanage who is reasonably smart, resembles Aria, and is bold would lack genealogical legitimacy.
The Count Witri family is short-handed, so there are only two people in the current generation.
And since it has ended up remaining only through the maternal bloodline.
'Come to think of it, I did hear a strange rumor when I was in the Northern Territory.'
A strange curse that manifested when the glaciers in the polar region melted.
It sounded like a curse that was very conducive to producing an heir.
'I'll have to look into this later.'
Because right now, Clara's vision was entirely.
Very entirely focused on Aria.
They walked slowly and reached the entrance of the Great Forest.
Next to a temporary building made of wood, the entrance to the Great Forest, which seemed to have no end, spread out.
It was full of Academy students who were visibly nervous.
Aria stood on tiptoes and looked around frantically.
'Definitely, definitely.'
Because Yuna would be right here.
U-heu-heu.
It was super good to be able to see Yuna after a long time.
In the past, a very long time ago, I used to see her all the time.
"Yuna Castilla? I told you not to walk ahead of me. Walk three steps behind."
"...Ha."
"Did you just sigh? It seems you haven't learned manners. Well, I suppose......"
Like, like that, I bullied Yuna in places where all the students were.
So that Yuna could make lots of friends, just like in the original story.
And.
Because I'm bullying her.
Because Yuna's status has lowered.
So that I can filter out every single bastard who approaches her with black intentions.
It was just like that. U-heu-heu.
"Uuuuu......."
"Are you looking for something? Why are you standing on your tiptoes like that?"
"......Yuna Castilla."
Umm-jjil.
The two people who heard Yuna's name.
Looked at each other with stiff expressions.
Even if they thought of each other as rivals or romantic competitors, their feelings for Aria were sincere.
'Has it remained as a trauma.......'
That day, those actions.
The actions from back then.
Did they remain as an unhealable wound for Aria?
"......Ha."
Why on earth.
Aria lost everything.
Wealth, status, honor, acquaintances, health, and her mind.
Everything, everything, everything, everything was lost.
Why was she able to say such harsh words to a child like that?
Aria even saved Yuna once.
Now, everyone knew the truth about the masquerade ball incident.
The princess had gone into hiding, and Yuna.
Had started to receive tremendous condemnation.
That it was she who ruined the masquerade ball that happened only once a year.
Because the arrows were gradually pouring down on her.
So.
Just like now.
"Ah, is that bitch that bitch...?"
"She's got a shameless face too. Yuna Castilla. You still haven't dropped out?"
"Why does Lord Luka just leave a bitch like that alone?"
As such murmurs were heard.
Blood vessels began to appear in Aria's eyes.