Chapter 114: The Spiral of Distortion
A few minutes later, Sue stood up. She had to go back to the classroom to gather her belongings.
But unfortunately, she ran into Woo Acrea as soon as she entered the main hall on the first floor.
“Oh my, Master Acrea, are you leaving now?”
Sue greeted him brightly, her arms hidden behind her back. Acrea was carrying a stack of documents, as usual. He looked at her, his eyes filled with surprise.
“No, I still have some work to do. Byron, why are you still here at this hour?”
“Hehe, I stopped by the library for a bit, and I’m just about to gather my things and go home.”
It was a blatant lie that anyone who knew Sue Byron wouldn’t believe. But Acrea didn’t know Sue Byron, so he didn’t question her sugary words.
“I see. Are you going back to the classroom?”
“Yes.”
“I was just heading there too. Let’s go together.”
Acrea walked alongside her. Sue felt uncomfortable, but she couldn’t show it. She just wanted to go home as soon as possible.
Silence fell between them as they climbed the stairs. The clicking of their shoes echoed rhythmically, like a clock ticking.
Sue glanced sideways. Acrea’s doll-like profile came into view. He was wearing a carefree smile, as if he had never had a worry in his life.
“Master Acrea, do you know that Lady Melaine joined a subordinate religion?”
The impulsive question broke the silence. But Sue, for the first time in a long time, didn’t regret it. She had been wanting to ask him ever since she had started running into him at the academy, and the urge to wipe that carefree, fake smile off his face was bubbling inside her.
She really didn’t know her place.
“Oh, really?”
Acrea casually acknowledged her words, as if he was hearing it for the first time, then continued climbing the stairs without another word. He had no interest in Melaine Vava anymore.
‘What am I even doing?’
Knowing that, knowing that very fact, Sue felt her energy drain away.
Acrea wasn’t even Melaine’s fiancé. It was almost impossible for him to be interested in her now.
Sue knew that better than anyone. Then why had she said that?
Perhaps she had been trying to take out her countless frustrations on the second son of the Acrea grand duke family.
Sue, realizing that, felt a sense of self-loathing, and she continued, her voice somewhat resigned,
“…Lady Melaine joined a subordinate religion called the Holy Demon Religion after her engagement was broken.”
Unlike before, her voice wasn’t forceful. It was just a reporter stating a fact.
“Holy Demon Religion… I’ve never heard of it.”
She clenched and unclenched her hand behind her back, feeling his gaze on her.
“They have a chapel in Dande. It seems like a newly established religion.”
“I see.”
“So I’m worried about Lady Melaine. She suddenly joined a subordinate religion I’ve never even heard of… I don’t even know if it’s a proper place…”
Her trailing words sounded like a confession.
“Byron, are you worried about Lady Vava?”
Acrea stopped walking and looked down at her. The faint moonlight illuminated his face, which had always been as unchanging as a doll’s. The sun had completely set.
His reassuring voice, his gentle tone, his unwavering gaze that inspired trust. That was why Sue always said one more thing to him.
“Yes, I’m worried. Enough to want to ask the Imperial Family and the Grand Temple to look into it.”
Because he didn’t feel like a living person.
Sue answered, choosing her words carefully, a sliver of hope in her heart. But Acrea, looking at the red-haired girl, simply concluded,
“I don’t think it’s something you need to worry about, Byron.”
It was something everyone knew. Something everyone would agree with. But it wasn’t what Sue Byron wanted to hear.
“Yes, you’re right. You’re absolutely right.”
Sue chuckled, inwardly surrendering. She even forgot why she had been trying to provoke Acrea.
The numbness in her hand had completely disappeared. Sue took a deep breath. Sometimes, in the summer, her mind would go blank. It seemed like today was one of those days.
***
“Hahaha, why are you worrying about something like that?”
It was Jean Emilia’s single sentence that shattered Sue’s anxieties and suspicions like a sandcastle.
“If you want to do something, just do it. What’s so hard about it?”
Jean shrugged, his thick eyebrows raised. Sue looked at him, her face puzzled. Jean, sensing her thoughts, offered her a glass of orange juice and continued,
“Wouldn’t it be better to force yourself to care than to keep brainwashing yourself into believing it’s none of your business and suffer like you’re dying?”
“B-but I…”
Sue stared at the yellow ripples in the white cup. She had so much to say, but it was all jumbled up in her mind. Jean didn’t wait for her and said,
“So what’s the bottom line? You’re so worried about the Holy Demon Religion and Melaine that you want to intervene, but you’re forcing yourself to look away because it’s not directly related to you. You keep telling yourself that all you need is to break the curse on your body.”
“….”
“So you’re really going to do nothing for the next five years until the curse is broken? Just lie there like a corpse?”
“Like a corpse…! I won’t! Probably…”
Sue retorted, then lowered her head, her voice losing confidence. Jean observed her and said bluntly,
“You’re trying to break the curse so you can live the way you want, right?”
“Right…”
It was a weak answer. Jean, ignoring her, raised his empty teacup.
“Then do what you want. No matter the outcome, you’ll regret it less.”
“…You sound like you have a lot of experience with that.”
“Of course, I’ve lived for many years.”
“How many years?”
“Who knows?”
Jean dodged her question like a slippery eel.
He’s so good at prying into other people’s affairs.
Sue glared at him, feeling a secret resentment.
Jean casually ignored her glare. He threw himself onto the bed and slowly closed his eyes.
“Anyway, do whatever you want. No one will say anything if you live more proactively. I’ll help you if I can…”
Sue looked at Jean, who had fallen asleep in an instant, her eyes filled with a strange emptiness.
“Do whatever you want…”
She mumbled.
It was a phrase she had never heard before in her life. Even in her previous life.
Of course, Jean Emilia could say that because he didn’t know anything about Sue Byron’s life.
No one will say anything if you live more proactively.
Sue chuckled bitterly, looking down at the mysterious man.
“They will. A lot of people will.”
***
In the end, Sue, unable to resist Jean’s push, started to investigate the Holy Demon Religion in earnest.
It was her fault for relying on someone else. If she was concerned about something, she had to solve it herself.
She first questioned Melaine’s followers who had gone to the chapel with her.
They had gone to the chapel with Melaine on the day of the Byron family dinner party, as promised, but they hadn’t attended any services since then, and Melaine had apparently complained about it.
So Sue asked them what had happened, but…
“Lady Melaine was beautiful.”
That was all they said.
She asked them what Melaine had done that was so beautiful, but no one could give her a specific explanation. So she couldn’t tell if they had been brainwashed or not.
“Lady Byron, if you don’t mind, I can tell you.”
To her surprise, it was Lady Azette of the Delondariwood duke family who offered to help.
“I actually went to the Holy Demon Religion service that day.”
It was Azette, who had claimed to believe in her hometown’s indigenous religion at the tea party. Sue asked her cautiously, and Azette’s neck turned bright red.
“Everyone was going, so I thought it would be better to go too…”
Basically, she had succumbed to peer pressure.
Anyway, Azette seemed like someone she could talk to. Sue, feeling like she had found a savior, asked her about the chapel.
Azette, as if to meet her expectations, started to explain in detail.
“Hmm, the chapel was in the basement of an old abandoned building. I was a little worried at first, but fortunately, it was clean inside. But the high priest wasn’t there that day. Instead, the deputy high priest, High Priest Rampleld, led the service. And Lady Vava…”
Azette trailed off. Sue, who had been listening intently, tilted her head. After a moment, Azette smiled awkwardly and continued,
“She was the Saint of the Holy Demon Religion.”
“The Saint?”
“Yes, I don’t remember this very clearly, but they said they have a class system based on the purity of one’s soul. And High Priest Rampleld and Lady Vava were said to have the purest souls… So High Priest Rampleld became the deputy high priest, and Lady Vava became the Saint.”
Sue felt a wave of dizziness at her absurd words.
She already knew about the Holy Demon Religion’s ‘soul purity’ class system from the novel.
The problem was the information that Melaine had become the Saint.