Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: I Need You
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A short while later.
Fortunately, unlike my worries, there were no cadets wandering near the dormitory.
Theodore was sleeping as if he had truly passed out.
He didn't open his eyes even once while we carried him to my room.
"It'll get dark soon, so I'll light the fire ahead of time."
"Ah, thanks."
After moving the completely knocked-out guy to my room, Judith familiarly struck a spark into the fireplace and then brought over a candlestick, transferring the flame there as well.
The small candle flames flickered precariously in the sporadic breeze coming through the open window for ventilation.
"This one's going to go out soon."
She pointed to the candle where the wick was only about half a finger's length left.
Since we couldn't use magic stone-powered bulbs or lighting devices, things like this happened quickly if you weren't careful.
After placing the candlesticks—one on the fireplace mantel and one on the desk—Judith blew upward with her mouth to flick back her fallen bangs.
"I wonder if Arthur's in his own room."
"About that, wouldn't it be better to just let him sleep here in my room and have him go back on his own two feet? He seems like he hasn't slept properly for days, looking at how he's out cold."
"Hmm... he really is sleeping like the dead."
"Even if we send him back to his own room, he'll just sleep more there. Arthur might not even be around, so I'll look after him and send him off later."
Judith seemed to mull over my words for a bit before nodding.
I'd been worried it might look suspicious that I was so eager to take care of Theodore, but after giving a few plausible reasons, she finally seemed convinced.
"Whew, that Shirley. Inviting someone in without even knowing who it is."
"Hahaha."
Well, if it's someone with Shirley's level of strength, even I'd do the same.
Besides, she couldn't have known it was Theodore who showed up, so she had her own excuses.
Judith glanced over the passed-out Theodore for a long moment before suggesting we head to the dining hall together since she was hungry.
"I'm good. I'm not hungry."
Judith made another one of her sky-falling faces.
'Why that expression?'
Does she really not realize that she's the weird one for being hungry again after eating all day?
I politely saw Judith off and returned to my room, heading to the window.
-You crazy bastard! Last time you came whining about curses and all that, and now you've flipped like a pancake!
-Wait! Just 10 minutes! No, 5 minutes!
-10 minutes or 5, get lost already! Show up one more time and it's penalty points.
-Aaaah, you old fart, treating people like—
"..."
Just as I was about to close the window, I heard a brief commotion and perked up my ears. Dylan was harshly chasing away a few more cadets who had come to my room.
It hit me late that the cadets who'd been loitering around my dormitory every day had vanished thanks to Dylan.
-Click.
Once I fully closed the window and locked it, the room fell into silence.
The only thing breaking the quiet in the still room was the occasional sound of Theodore's breathing.
"You're really asleep, right? Theodore."
Just in case, I waved my hand over his closed eyelids and then slowly moved my fingers toward his eyepatch.
'I just need to check something. Sorry about this, for real.'
Taking off the eyepatch of someone sleeping innocently like that—it was an incredibly bizarre situation.
I slipped my fingers between the bridge of his nose and the strap holding the eyepatch, lifting it up, and it came off more easily than expected.
'It does look a bit different from that face back then...'
I examined Theodore's face several times after removing the eyepatch, but as expected, it was the youthful face different from the mature one I'd seen in my dream.
They say anyone looks younger when asleep to some degree, but it doesn't make sense that I wouldn't recognize the face of the guy I see every day.
I tidied up the loosened eyepatch and placed it on the nightstand before sinking back into thought.
'Shirley didn't tell me anything. And she seemed worried about me.'
There were two things I'd confirmed for sure during my comatose state.
One was that Shirley had noticed whatever future event was coming later than Judith had, and the other was that she knew I didn't want to remember it.
Plus, if Shirley's words were true, future me would start smoking...
'Saved from dying, and he takes up smoking? Ugh.'
As for me, my body was the epitome of terrible cost-performance.
I'd already poured in enough money in my childhood to raise a dozen kids my age just to barely bring my health up to average, and now to throw it all back into the gutter...
I must have been cornered badly, or maybe lost my mind for a bit.
It was a nagging conclusion, but that was the extent of what I could imagine right now.
"Ugh..."
At that moment, Theodore groaned and stirred as if having a nightmare.
But fortunately, after tossing a little, he settled back down without waking.
I pulled a chair over and sat by the bed where Theodore lay.
-Dylan... hogging the Executor all to yourself, that's dirty-
-Executor? What kind of nonsense is that?
-The holy saint carrying out Aegis's will, Executor Arma—
-Exe-what? Go write a novel. You pathetic losers treating Arma like the plague just the other day—what a sight!
Voices of cadets coming to see me nonstop, their footsteps, and every time, Dylan's voice charging in like lightning to drive them away.
The deeper I sank into thought, the more the pressure built, urging me that I had to resolve this with my own hands, no matter what.
"I have to do something."
The view outside the window was now fully engulfed in darkness, with the only light sources being the flickering flames from the fireplace and the two candlesticks.
Staring blankly at Theodore and the candlelight illuminating the room only fueled that burning desire even more.
"Theodore... whatever it is you remember... I need to know it..."
-Rustle.
I naturally approached the desk as if I'd planned it from the start and opened the drawer.
The drawer had a simple security mechanism.
Press your finger to the edge, the bottom pops up; lift that up, and beneath it is the hidden diary, revealing a small compartment.
-Click.
The drawer looked small and didn't open fully, but actually, there was a deeper hidden bottom far inside the unseen part.
"If I could just learn the truth once, after that, I'll handle it... like always."
-Plop.
"It's for everyone's sake."
The words I added like a vow were just to fool my own irrationality.
I took out the glass vial I'd hidden in the secret compartment of the drawer, twisted off the lid.
Air rushed into the sealed interior with a crisp sound.
The shimmering potion bottle caught the candlelight and gleamed, and now this would lead us to the truth.
-Sizzle...
It was the moment I approached Theodore with the bottle in hand.
One of the two candles Judith had lit burned down too low and got snuffed out in its own wax.
Startled, I snapped to my senses with the anesthetic Theodore had made still in my hand.
"Huh."
What was that just now?
Coming to, the situation felt totally off.
I quickly righted the bottle I'd been tilting toward Theodore, capped it, and put as much distance as possible between us.
"No way."
It was shocking.
Realizing what I'd just tried to do made my hands tremble.
Somehow, just like what my past self had done to me, I'd tried to put Theodore into a hypnotic state to get the answers I wanted.
Not caring about methods or means, calling it a "choice for everyone's sake."
But was that choice really for everyone?
It was utterly contrived and foolish.
"I can't stay with Theodore."
I didn't even want to guess what kind of base instinct was underlying my tendencies.
Anyway, realizing that some terrifying something was trying to harm Theodore through me, I still couldn't stay with him.
The moment I sorted my thoughts, I grabbed a thick plaid wool coat from the wardrobe, slipped it on, and hurriedly left the room.
'From where, since when had I been thinking like that? But at first, it was definitely goodwill.'
It was already past dusk, with only blue moonlight illuminating the streets.
At this late hour, I couldn't ask Judith to go in and out of a guy's dorm room, so after agonizing, I decided to go find Dylan myself.
"Wait here just a bit."
Theodore gave no response, as expected.
If he heard my voice even in his sleep, he wouldn't panic too much when he woke up.
I securely locked the door and left the room.
.
.
.
Dylan's room entrance was still as gloomy as ever.
Even with the cold winter winds piling up fallen leaves to cover his doorway, Dylan hadn't cleared them—in fact, it looked like he'd gathered more.
-Knock knock knock.
Hearing the knock, Dylan flung open the door in a fluster, just like the first day I'd come here.
His half-fallen hair, misbuttoned shirt, and slightly flushed face made me seriously wonder if I'd come at a bad time.
"Did I come at a bad time?"
"No! Not at all. I was just about to wash up and had stripped down when you knocked."
"That bit about you stripping down feels like info I didn't need to know."
Dylan raised his eyebrows high and burst into laughter at my words.
Anyway, him treating me so casually like this put my mind at ease.
Freed from the anxiety and worries up till now, so to speak.
Dylan pushed me from behind into his room, saying,
"Come on in. You took the trouble to come, young master. I was just wanting to talk about club activities anyway—perfect timing."
Only after hearing Dylan did I belatedly remember that I'd used the Classical Culture Club to root out the Writing Club.
"Sorry, but that talk can wait a bit. I came to ask something of 'Dylan the dorm monitor,' not the Classical Culture Club vice president."
"Oh, right, not as a club member? Looks like delayed puberty hit my dorm underclassman. What mischief did you get into? Let's hear it."
"...It's not a big deal yet. There's a cadet from Thorn Crown House in rough shape in my room. I laid him down for now, but I think I need to take him back."
"Dragging a patient all the way to Thorn Crown House by yourself right now doesn't sound smart."
I agreed with Dylan.
If I could move freely, I wouldn't have come here in the first place.
Dylan finally got it, clapped his hands lightly, and said,
"Ah, you want me to carry him? Ha, even Arma can't escape being a noble young master. Do you know my hourly rate?"
"About next week's Classical Culture Club meeting—"
"Zero. Zero bucks. What's an hourly rate to a dorm monitor? Let's go right now."
Dylan hastily refastened his misbuttoned shirt, threw on a long coat suitable for the chilly night, and got ready to head out.
As I stood to follow Dylan, I unintentionally glanced at a piece of paper that seemed to be what he'd been looking at moments ago.
〔Dormitory Resident Curfew Management Cooperation Request
Recently, there have been increasing incidents of curfew negligence among cadets.
We request the cooperation of each dorm monitor in curfew management.
※ Intensive management cadets are as follows.
Black Lily: None
Silver Chalice: Adrian Nell Elman
Thorn Crown House: Arthur Usher, Theodore White
Wooden Cross: Shirley Spencer, Judith Taylor〕