Chapter 161: The Loss of Interest
The academy’s glass garden.
Enzhe pushed Sue, who was frozen in fear, her face pale. Sue stumbled forward.
“Don’t… Don’t take me to the basement.”
Sue, entering the greenhouse, clung to Enzhe’s sleeve and pleaded like a child. Enzhe, hearing Sue’s pleas for the first time, burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes.
“How did it come to this, Sue?”
Sue’s pleas were ignored once again, and Enzhe shoved her headfirst into the basement.
Sue’s body tumbled down the stairs, landing on the basement floor. Enzhe’s cheeks flushed with delight at the sickening sound of bones cracking.
Sue sat up, clutching her head. Blood was trickling down her forehead. She felt dizzy, but it seemed like it was just a scratch.
She was looking around, dazed, when something metallic clattered on the floor. Enzhe had thrown it from above.
“Pick it up.”
Sue, obeying the order, fumbled around on the floor and picked up the object. It was a sharp dagger.
“What are you going to do with this…?”
Sadly, Sue already knew the answer before she even finished asking the question. She knew what Enzhe was going to say.
Enzhe pointed to a corner of the basement that Sue hadn’t noticed. A girl was lying there, unconscious. A fairy-like girl with light purple hair. She had chosen her because she was pretty. It would be more fun that way.
“Kill her. Kill her, and I’ll let you out. And then I’ll forgive you.”
***
“Ugh…”
Azette slowly opened her eyes. She was surrounded by darkness. She quickly came to her senses, feeling the musty, cold air, and tried to sit up, but her body wouldn’t move. Her upper body and legs were tied with ropes.
“W-what…?!”
She struggled, but the ropes were too tight. She tried to use magic to break the ropes, but she couldn’t control her magic power properly.
Azette broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn’t even remember how she had ended up like this.
‘I was going to ask Lady Enzhe about Lady Byron… And then what happened? …Huh?’
She sensed a presence in front of her. Her eyes, adjusted to the darkness, quickly recognized the figure. Azette’s face contorted in horror.
“Lady Byron…”
Sue, her eyes blank and lifeless, slowly emerged from the darkness. She was bleeding from her forehead and swaying slightly, as if she was dizzy.
“D-did you kidnap me, Lady Byron?”
Sue shook her head blankly.
“No…”
“Then who…? Gasp!”
Azette’s eyes widened in horror as she saw what Sue was holding.
A small knife, dripping with blood. It was in Sue Byron’s hand.
“Well, who do you think did it?”
Sue mumbled, a bitter smile on her lips.
Even now, she was hiding Enzhe’s presence. It was so absurd that even she wondered if she had been brainwashed by Enzhe Lopetrefer.
Azette’s mind went blank as she saw the blood dripping from the blade.
Whose blood was it? Was there someone else here?
But there was no one else here, even if she assumed there was a dead body.
‘Could it be… her own blood? …Ah!’
Azette’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Sue Byron’s hand was tightly gripping the blade of the dagger. The blood was flowing from there.
‘No… This is wrong.’
It was strange that she would accidentally grab the blade in the darkness. Something about this situation was definitely wrong.
Azette took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
“What… are you going to do?”
“I’m going to try to kill you.”
It wasn’t her usual voice.
Lady Byron’s voice was always clear and composed, pleasant to listen to. But not now.
It wasn’t cold, it wasn’t calm, and it wasn’t excited either. It was an unstable, low voice, breaking apart.
Azette tried to calm the situation down.
“Calm down, Lady Byron.”
“I’ve done this countless times to survive.”
“Y-you haven’t killed anyone, have you?!”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“Then it’s fine. You can start over!”
Azette tried to reason with Sue, to soothe her. Because deep down, she had an unfounded belief that Sue wasn’t the kind of person who would do this.
“You said you feel guilty. Then apologize! Repent for your sins, and from now on, live the way you want to…!”
“Nothing will change. Nothing has changed.”
“W-what?”
Sue cut her off and said something she hadn’t asked about. Blood from her cut hand dripped onto the floor, staining the blade.
“I can’t live the way I want to. It’s too late to wait for that. Even if I try to live by my own will, it’s just an impossible dream.”
“B-but… You don’t know if it’s impossible or not. Just like we don’t know each other. So let’s talk. Maybe I can help…”
“I thought about a lot of things. But I realized… I only know how to grovel like a dog and beg for my life. I was willing to do anything to survive. I trampled on others, I pushed aside obstacles, that’s how I’ve lived.”
“Lady Byron.”
“So it’s okay if I kill you…”
Colorless blood trickled down Sue’s cheek.
“Tell me it’s okay. I want to live, even a little longer.”
If she couldn’t stop Enzhe, if she couldn’t break the curse, if she couldn’t persuade Fritz, all her efforts were in vain.
And even those efforts were just torturing people to appease Enzhe. She was doing exactly what “Sue” had done.
It didn’t matter to the victims whether she enjoyed it or not.
“Then why didn’t you kill me when I was unconscious?”
Azette asked, staring blankly at the blood dripping onto the floor.
“Lady Byron, kill me now.”
“….”
“Kill me and live a little longer.”
Permission to kill.
But the killer just stood there, her face devoid of joy.
“Why don’t you kill me? I told you it’s okay to kill me.”
“…Don’t.”
Her hand, holding the dagger, started to tremble.
Azette was clever.
And it was also a special skill of the Delondariwood bloodline. To see into a person’s heart through their eyes. It wasn’t a skill engraved by magic, but a survival technique that royalty had to have.
She had felt the same way when she had met Sue Byron in front of the dormitory on the day of the entrance ceremony. That day, Azette had looked into her wavering red eyes and been certain.
This person is very weak, and very kind.
“…You really can’t kill me.”
“Stop it.”
Her clear voice trembled slightly.
Azette, watching Sue Byron stumble back, plunged a final, loving dagger into her heart.
“You’re so kind. It’s hard to believe you’ve done such terrible things.”
“Aaaaaah!”
Her genuine admiration easily shattered the girl who was built on lies.
The dagger clattered to the floor, spinning like a dart, then stopped in front of Azette.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t. Please, please… I beg you.”
Sue curled up on the floor, trembling like a baby.
“Me… Me…”
She wanted pity, but she couldn’t be pitied.
She wanted forgiveness, but she couldn’t be forgiven.
Sue cried, trapped in the inescapable reality, knowing the gap between those two desires better than anyone.
She couldn’t breathe, and she fainted. Azette, wriggling like a worm, crawled towards her and checked her condition. Luckily, she seemed to have just fainted.
She calmly looked around. She probably couldn’t use magic because of some kind of barrier in this place.
‘How do I get out of here? Lady Byron must know…’
She couldn’t cut the ropes with the dagger, as her entire body was bound.
But luckily, she didn’t have to worry for long. The basement door started to open.
“Azette!”
Azette squinted at the blinding light.
A crowd of people rushed into the basement.
Vercia, Enzhe, countless students and teachers. They had come to rescue her.
‘…Huh?’
But why…
…did she sense “disappointment” in their eyes?
***
Sue woke up in the academy infirmary. The familiar scent of herbs and the familiar scenery calmed her heart.
Her head and arms were bandaged. It hadn’t been a dream, she really had tried to kill Azette.
“…Haha.”
Sue chuckled bitterly.
What had she been living for, for the past three years? Nothing had changed since she had been deceived by Damon Keron.
“You’re awake.”
A man, pulling back the white curtain, stood next to her bed.