Chapter 83: Reverse of Faith
Raines Noel, Leo Noel, or some other third party.
‘I hope to see you in the classroom later.’
Vercia’s words bothered her, even though it wasn’t something she should care about. Why had Vercia come to the academy so early?
‘…No.’
Sue slowly blinked.
Nothing will happen.
She would meet Noel, talk to him, reconcile with him, and return to the Black Eagle classroom with him. She would.
And then, she heard a rustling sound, followed by footsteps, in the hazy fog.
“…Noel?”
Sue looked up sharply. But there was no one entering the alley. She sniffed, pulling her scarf over her reddened nose, wondering if she had imagined it.
“Found you.”
A chilling sensation, a heavy weight, descended upon her under the overcast sky.
A low, deep, raspy, unpleasant male voice.
Strangely, she had heard that voice many times before, in different places.
Sue slowly straightened her legs, which had been folded under her. A dark figure, emerging from the thick fog that filled the alley, was approaching. Sue frowned, trying to get a better look. And then, she realized that the approaching figure was familiar. Her mouth went dry.
“Who’s there?”
She finally asked, her voice trembling with anxiety. There was no answer.
She felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Like a rainy day, or a day with cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Sue tried to calm her racing heart and slowly walked towards the shadowy figure.
One step, two steps.
As the dark figure emerged from the fog, Sue gasped and whispered his name.
“Sir Leo?”
And at that moment, something blunt struck her hard on the head. Her vision went black.
***
Standing before the mirror, the young me looked at my hair and thought,
What is this? It’s a dirty color.
I pouted and tried to tie it up. The hair, barely reaching my shoulders, kept slipping out of my grasp.
Unable to control my frustration, I burst into tears. It was a girl from the renowned Lopetrefer family who comforted me. I couldn’t remember what she had said to make me stop crying.
But I remembered her hands, gently combing my hair and braiding it, telling me she had a good idea. I had started braiding my hair ever since then.
A dirty color. I had thought the same thing hundreds of times since then, looking in the mirror. The dirty red hair, which hadn’t reached past my shoulders, now flowed down past my knees. I stood before the mirror again today, just like yesterday. But unlike yesterday, I tried to braid it myself. It was difficult to manage the thick strands, but my heart was calm, unlike back then when I had just cried.
The red hair, braided strand by strand, formed a thick rope, creating the usual ‘Sue Byron’. I tied the end with a white ribbon from the table, and the process was complete.
***
She slowly opened her eyes. She felt like she had had a long dream.
Before she could even open her eyes fully, a stale smell invaded her mouth. She frowned at the musty, bitter taste.
It was dark, without a single light. And it was cold, an unpleasant chill penetrating her coat.
She was lying on her side. She tried to sit up, but her slender neck slammed back onto the floor. She winced, her head throbbing.
“What is this?”
Her voice, weak and surprised, muttered.
Her arms and legs were tightly bound with black rings.
Sue quickly scanned her surroundings, sensing something was wrong.
The hard, dirty floor, the cobwebbed ceiling, the pitch black darkness, the bitter smell, the unpleasant draft.
Raines Noel was nowhere to be seen, but a familiar sensation lingered.
She knew where she was. A place she had been to dozens of times since entering the academy.
The basement of the glass garden.
“Sue Byron.”
A voice called her name softly. The raspy, phlegmy voice was filled with excitement, like someone greeting a long-lost friend.
After a moment, a man in a robe emerged from the darkness. Before Sue could even try to see his face, hidden under the hood, he took it off.
‘…It wasn’t a dream.’
Sue blinked, speechless.
“Long time no see.”
It was Leo Noel. He looked down at her with his usual smug grin. Sue desperately craned her neck to see his face, which was hidden from view.
“What are you doing?”
She asked, her voice trembling with anxiety. Leo touched his forehead, as if troubled.
“What am I doing…? …You still don’t remember?”
“Remember?”
She suddenly remembered their last conversation at the salon. He had asked if she remembered last winter. But she couldn’t remember ever meeting him then.
No, why does it even matter?
“Right, of course you don’t. So I’ll tell you everything, just like you wanted.”
Damon chuckled, a bitter smile, as if reading her expression. He ripped off his face, revealing the flesh beneath. Sue stared at the unbelievable sight, even in the darkness.
A brief silence fell between them.
The face revealed under the bronze skin was a face she knew.
I know this person.
“Damon Keron.”
And then, she finally understood. She understood where she was, and what role she was playing.
***
A year ago, to be precise, sometime between autumn and winter last year.
Enzhe was walking down the hallway with Sue and Melaine. The weather was unseasonably warm, and Enzhe was in a good mood. But her good mood was short-lived. A glob of spit, spat out for no reason, landed right at her feet.
Sue, startled, gasped. Melaine, her face pale, muttered something, trying to identify the spitter.
But the person involved was silent. It was strange that Enzhe Lopetrefer didn’t say a word. They looked up at her, curious.
And then, Sue screamed again. A deafening scream, much louder than before, echoing through the hallway. Enzhe had fainted without a sound.
What followed was predictable. Like a perfectly executed plan, Enzhe and her entourage opened the door to the glass garden. No one stopped them. Enzhe walked into the brightly lit greenhouse, ready to punish the boy who was smirking on the sofa.
Damon Keron Brell ended up crumpled at Enzhe’s feet.
Retribution.
They all agreed, looking down at Damon.
But how nice it would have been if the viscount’s son’s foolish pride had ended there.
Unfortunately, the incident didn’t stop there.
One, two, three.
Three punches, thrown in a moment of lost reason, were like the final bell for Damon Keron.
And so, the name ‘Keron’ disappeared from noble society. It was nowhere to be found. As if it had never existed.
***
It was a tragic story, but it was also just a story of the past.
A man who had nothing to do with Sue Byron now, a man who had no influence on this world. And that memory from the past had suddenly appeared before her.
“You finally remember, Lady Byron.”
Damon Keron, making a ridiculous joke, looked quite different from a year ago. … No, could she even call that a ‘face’? Sue’s eyes felt dry, like desert sand.
Half his face, except for his eyes, was completely disfigured. It was a horrifying sight, as if he had been burned in a fire.
Sue swallowed a sigh and muttered involuntarily,
“…I’m starting to get the picture.”
Why she was here, why he had come all the way here with that face. It was as if a lock had been unlocked on the multiple metal doors that had been tightly shut.
Damon savored her horrified expression, his eyes filled with a morbid delight, then asked,
“Sue Byron, do you know where you are?”
“…Do you think I wouldn’t?”
Sue retorted, her eyes flickering slightly. Her lips, dry and cracked, formed a white frost.
“Yes, this is the place where you sent hundreds of people to hell.”
Damon exhaled roughly, his chest heaving. His attempt to sneer only made his face contort even more grotesquely.
“That’s… a bit of an exaggeration, Sir Leo.”
Sue looked down and said apologetically. It was a bluff.
Damon’s eyes glinted menacingly, as if he was about to slash her face.
Sue was terrified. A cold sweat broke out, but she couldn’t fight back or run away, her body bound.
“…Kekeke… Well, it doesn’t matter. This time has finally come.”
His voice, filled with morbid delight, echoed through the basement.
“This time?”
Sue asked, trying to appear calm. Damon looked down at her, his eyes vacant and sly.
“The time to kill you.”