Sophia's Taboo
Elenora found Sophia emerging from the basement with a book in her hands.
The look in her eyes as she carried it out seemed half-unfocused, as if she were in a trance.
"How did my friend end up like this?"
Elenora turned to me and spoke.
"Eid is right here."
She tried to link arms with me, so I pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
We had come to the Watcher's Room, where the entire academy could be monitored at a glance.
The hidden magic orbs throughout the campus were feeding live images of Sophia's movements into this room.
"Hee, Sophia really is something. With this many orbs around, not a single one managed to capture what book she took."
It was exactly the kind of ability you'd expect from the game's heroine.
"She must have come here with Eid once before, right?"
I was referring to her uncanny knack for slipping past the orbs without ever being recorded.
At the innocent question, I found myself nodding without thinking.
"Really? How do you know that?"
Elenora leaned in closer, pressing the question.
She could use mental magic that broke down a person's guard and slipped straight into their thoughts.
Had I been caught by it this time?
"Not many people know the exact positions and angles of the cameras. The only explanation is that you've been in this room before."
"That's a shame. Eid never brought me here... Anyway..."
Elenora gave me another strange look and asked,
"How did you find out this room even existed, Winter?"
It was a difficult question.
I could have brushed it off with some vague excuse.
Say I stumbled upon it by chance.
Or that I'd heard about it from my family.
But if I did that, Elenora would only grow more suspicious.
"Why are you asking?"
"Because it's strange."
Elenora's eyes narrowed.
"Eid knew this room existed."
"..."
"Sophia knew too."
She took a step closer.
"And now you know as well?"
Another step.
"Should I really believe this is all just coincidence?"
At this point, it was clear she already had her answer.
She was simply waiting for me to admit it.
"Perhaps..."
I stared at her in silence.
"You are..."
In that moment, I shoved her shoulder and pinned her against the wall.
"Kyaa!"
Elenora's back hit the wall.
"Don't ask anything more."
Her eyes trembled violently.
"Just now... what..."
I brought my lips close to her ear.
"Don't you want revenge for Eid?"
Elenora's breath seemed to stop.
"If you do, then trust me."
"..."
"Don't worry about the method."
"Or how I know."
"Just don't concern yourself with those things."
Her body trembled slightly.
"All you have to do is follow my orders."
Elenora's body began to shake.
"All you need to do is obey me."
When I came to my senses, I was gently stroking her chin.
Only then did I realize I had done something terrible to the girl.
But she quietly began to nod.
"I understand..."
I slowly released her bound body.
Then I questioned my own actions.
I had simply acted like myself, yet I had intimidated Elenora this much?
Was this my true desire for how I wanted to treat her?
One thing was certain: Eid would never have acted this way.
A strange sense of guilt began to rise within me.
***
Elenora went with Winter to the room filled with crystal orbs.
Images of everyday academy life played across their surfaces.
From classrooms where students studied to training grounds where they sparred, there was nowhere the orbs did not reach.
"Find the footage of Sophia."
Winter began rapidly flipping through the recordings.
Elenora watched him and thought that his focused expression resembled Eid's.
'Well, they are brothers, so that's only natural.'
While thinking that, Elenora found the footage of Sophia looking as though she were in a daze.
And then he had pushed her against the wall.
The sensation from that moment was still vivid.
The helplessness when she was pinned, unable to move.
The excitement when his face drew near.
It was an emotion she rarely felt as a noble lady.
Even though he had done it with a face so similar to Eid's, she could not bring herself to hate it.
Guilt washed over her.
But her mind would not stop thinking.
'When he pushed me against the wall, Winter's soul grew larger. Eid's soul... was clearly shaken as well.'
Did that mean Eid was still alive inside Winter's soul?
***
"These are the titles of books she likely borrowed while following that route."
Elenora had searched through several library catalogs in the underground archives and handed them to me.
Soul Echo Analysis.
Spirit Return Ritual.
Books said to contain methods for dragging a dead person's soul back to the present world.
"It seems Sophia is trying to resurrect Eid... but these books are all trash. They were researched in the past, but every attempt ended in failure."
"They failed?"
"Yes... These methods cannot truly resurrect a soul. They can only temporarily revive the body through a few tricks."
"Then there's no way to bring him back at all?"
"According to one theory... it might be possible if you fix the soul to a temporarily revived body. Though that method has never been recorded anywhere."
"How do you know so much about this?"
Elenora looked at me with a complicated expression.
"Because I searched for it more desperately than anyone else."
Tears welled in her eyes.
I handed her a handkerchief.
"I don't need this anymore."
She naturally linked her arm with mine.
"Eid is right here, isn't he? How does it feel to have a beautiful girl clinging to your arm? Much better than being forced, right?"
She really was an unpredictable woman.
She was much shorter than me.
Having her so close wasn't unpleasant, but she felt more like a cute little sister.
"Still acting like a child."
I slipped my arm free.
Elenora looked slightly disappointed, then seemed to remember something.
"But you like my face, don't you? You were stroking my chin earlier!"
I covered her mouth.
"Be quiet."
"Mmph mmph!"
Sophia had returned to the underground library.
And some rat had come with her.
***
Sophia brought the books back to her room.
She also purchased a magic lizard from a magic tool shop outside the academy to use for experiments.
Magic lizards were artificial creatures created by mages for experimentation, possessing properties similar to the human body.
According to Soul Echo Analysis, a lingering echo of the soul remained in a corpse.
To recreate the conditions of Eid's death, she killed the lizard.
Spirit Return Ritual was a spell that prevented the soul from leaving the dead body.
She cast the binding on the lizard's spirit.
When observed with a magic tool, the rate at which the spirit escaped appeared to slow.
Ten days had already passed since Eid's death.
She had to try something before his spirit disappeared completely.
'Yes, I'll dig up Eid's grave and capture his spirit first... and then what?'
She still lacked clues, but fortunately, the answer did not seem far away.
The forbidden book Gate of the Dead, banned from even being viewed in the Empire, was mentioned in all of them.
If she could bring a soul from the Gate of the Dead, she could fix it to the revived body...
Sophia recalled her memories from the underground archives.
She had to find that book.
So she returned to the underground archives once more to search for it.
***
Sophia moved busily through the underground archives.
Fortunately, there had been an infiltration gimmick in the underground archives even in the game.
I knew the exact spots where one would never be caught.
"How do you know all this so well?"
She was holding my hand.
Suddenly, Sophia glanced around.
I covered her mouth again.
Of course, the spot we were in wasn't completely soundproof.
Luckily, Sophia continued on her way.
Now that I looked, Elenora was breathing softly in my arms.
I cast a transmission spell on her.
'Are you doing this on purpose?'
'Yes... I like it when you treat me so roughly.'
She was breathing heavily, clearly excited.
I had nothing left to say to this hopeless woman.
'Want me to go all the way?'
I pinched her nose lightly.
'Hweeeng. I was just joking!'
Then Elenora's expression hardened as she answered.
'That aside, she's probably here to find the book called Gate of the Dead. But I already checked, and there's no such book here.'
After circling the entire underground archives once, Sophia still wore a cold expression.
Then she turned on the spot and looked straight toward us.
"Come out right now. Stop hiding in there."
Elenora looked extremely flustered.
She must have thought we had been discovered.
But that was impossible.
I kept my hand over her mouth and stayed perfectly still.
Then a man emerged from a corner.
"Hahaha. Looks like we've been found out."
"You noticed our presence halfway through. If you wanted to hide, you should have hidden until the end."
"Well, that's because I happen to have the book the lady is looking for."
"How do you know what book I'm looking for?"
"Aren't you searching for the Gate of the Dead?"
Sophia's eyes trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
"You want to bring Eid back to life, don't you?"
After a moment, she nodded.
"The way to revive the dead is to slow the soul's escape, cross the Gate of the Dead to retrieve it, and then fix it to the body."
"I already know that."
"I'm glad you're quick to understand. In that case, what about Winter Rain?"
A chill ran down my spine.
The man spoke slowly, drawing out his words.
"We are the Black Star Society. And we've discovered that his younger brother, Winter Rain, for some reason, possesses Eid Rain's soul."
Sophia placed her hand on her sword, assuming a guarded stance.
The man continued.
"I believe Lady Sophia understands what that means. It means Eid passed his soul to Winter through the Gate of the Dead. If that's the case, then what's left is obvious, isn't it?"
The hand gripping her sword hilt was trembling.
The man paid it no mind and kept speaking.
"Kill Winter immediately and take the soul. After that, we will..."
The man revealed his appearance. He was an old man in a black robe, holding a staff shaped like a star.
"We will give you this Gate of the Dead, so bring Eid's soul here and capture it."
The old man tossed her a bottle-shaped soul collector.
"Kill someone and open the bottle, and the soul will be collected. It's quite a simple tool, isn't it?"
Sophia picked up the object and stared at it blankly for a moment.
"So... this is how you plan to humiliate Eid?"
She hurled the bottle back at the old man.
"Shut your mouth. Don't you dare speak Eid's name with that filthy tongue of yours."