Chapter 178: Unfaded Memories
Emnon, on her third visit, still looked the same. Sue stared blankly at the waves crashing against the shore. After a short wait, she saw her rushing towards her.
It was Soran Halo.
“W-what… What brings you here?”
Halo asked, panting.
She had never acknowledged Sue at the academy, even when they greeted each other.
“I was wondering how you were doing.”
Sue smiled. Giving money to the guard in front of the trash dump had been a good choice. She couldn’t enter the trash dump, so she had asked him to call Halo for her.
Halo’s face was still filled with confusion.
“Are you here to visit again? Shall I show you around?”
“Hehe, no, thank you for the offer.”
*That’s good.*
She didn’t hate her yet.
Sue felt a deep sense of relief.
There was a barrier around the underground chamber in the main Lopetrefer mansion. It was a barrier that hid it from anyone who wasn’t a Lopetrefer by blood.
That was why they had been able to conduct human experiments in the underground chamber for hundreds of years without being caught.
Even Yuna and Reeves only knew that the underground chamber “existed,” no one had ever seen it. And Sue was no exception.
And at this point, there were probably only three people who could detect and break the barrier.
One was Jean Emilia. But he was excluded, as he had a strange restriction that prevented him from using high-ranking magic outside the barrier.
Another was Elizabeth. But she had already made a deal with Sue, and if she asked her to break a high-ranking barrier, it might cost her 10 years of her life. Excluded.
And so, the last resort, the last person, remained.
The girl standing before her.
The true protagonist of this story.
Soran Halo Tolley.
“Actually, I came here because I have something to tell you, Halo.”
“Something to tell me…?”
Don’t you want to bring Airan and your uncle to the capital as soon as possible? Then make a deal with me.
But unlike when she had met Reeves, the words she had repeated hundreds of times wouldn’t come out easily. She had been able to say them so easily in Crimea.
Sue smiled unconsciously, remembering those days. Halo continued to observe her, her clever mind trying to figure out why she was here.
Sue Byron finally bowed her head to Soran Halo.
“Halo, please help me. One last time.”
***
Acrea mansion.
Acrea blocked Sue’s path as she was leaving Reeves’s office. Sue froze the moment she saw him.
“I heard about your plan.”
He was standing there, his arms crossed, his tone cold and heavy, as if he had never confessed his feelings for her. His shadow loomed over her.
“Don’t do it.”
“….”
“We can break the curse now, Elizabeth…”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
Sue cut him off.
“No, it does. But even if the curse is broken, I’m still going through with this plan.”
“Why?”
Acrea asked, as if he couldn’t understand. Sue could only give him one answer.
“Because I want to.”
Because she wanted to.
There was no longer any desperate pleading in her eyes. He realized that he couldn’t stop her, that there was nothing he could do for her.
***
Sue headed for Apricot Tea Forest before sunrise. Her goal today wasn’t Jean, it was the high priest. She knelt before him, her face filled with anguish, like a believer seeking salvation.
“Give me some advice.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You were a cult leader, you must be good at giving advice.”
To think she had to ask the high priest for advice. It was too embarrassing to tell Ten and Nine.
The high priest, picking his ear with a bored expression, reluctantly sat down in front of her.
“Sigh… What kind of advice do you want?”
“What is love?”
The high priest choked on his own saliva and coughed. He stared at her, his eyes wide with bewilderment.
“W-what are you talking about?”
“I said, what is love?”
“I’m asking what you’re talking about.”
“Someone said they love me.”
“Who?”
Who?
What kind of crazy person would love this girl?
“Woo Acrea.”
The high priest kicked the wall with his foot, checking if he was dreaming. It hurt. He wasn’t dreaming.
“Wait… Woo Acrea, the… Louis? The Louis I know?”
Sue nodded. The high priest tried to reconcile the two mismatched people in his mind, then gave up and decided to laugh.
“Kyahahahaha! You two really don’t suit each other!”
“…So… Why does he like me?”
“…Hmm.”
He had expected her to curse him out, but Sue was clutching her head, agreeing with him. The high priest, feeling awkward, cleared his throat.
“Just think about it simply.”
“Simply?”
“There’s at least one person in the world with a strange taste.”
“No, I’m saying, he didn’t have a strange taste…!”
Sue grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him violently, as if she was falling deeper and deeper into a confusing maze.
“This is strange, I tell you! Acrea only likes pretty and kind girls like Halo!”
“Hey, hey! S-stop it!”
The high priest, pushing her away, caught his breath.
She must have gone crazy from planning that strange escape plan.
The high priest, clicking his tongue, broke the silence,
“Well, you’re not ugly. I’ll give you that.”
She wasn’t particularly pretty either.
“And… um… your… heart? Your kind heart?”
But he swallowed his last words and grimaced.
‘Ah, I shouldn’t have said that.’
He immediately regretted it, seeing Sue’s face, painted with an even deeper despair. The high priest, unable to bear it any longer, shouted,
“Seriously! Don’t try to find a reason for why he likes you! If he likes you, he just likes you!”
***
Just as survival came before friendship, survival came before love. Sue, for now, ignored Acrea’s shocking confession. No, she didn’t ignore it, she stored it away in a corner of her mind.
She wouldn’t run away anymore.
The decisive factor in the Lopetrefer family’s downfall in *“Beyond the Tiny Droplet”* had been the discovery of the laboratory and the underground chamber. They couldn’t be allowed to remain in the capital after committing such inhumane acts.
Sue made up her mind. She would bring down Enzhe.
But she would do it before anyone else got hurt. Before Enzhe committed murder.
Of course, Enzhe had already killed someone. Cedric Atlantis. She had killed him when she was young because she didn’t want to be his fiancée.
Enzhe was starting to lose it. No, she had already lost it.
She didn’t know if it was because of Fritz, or because of Michaela, since Halo wasn’t in the picture, but this was reality.
So Sue decided to change what she could, within her limits.
If Enzhe’s downfall was an unchangeable fact, then how she fell, why she fell, what happened after she fell… And what happened to her lackey, Sue Byron.
She would change those little things.
It was the day of the Imperial Ball. Sue, who had brought shame upon the social circles, wasn’t allowed to attend. So the Imperial Ball would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her.
The Imperial Ball was held on the last day of the Founding Festival, so the final parade of the Founding Festival was in full swing outside the palace.
Sue watched the parade until the end and returned to her townhouse with Ten.
But there was someone standing in front of the townhouse gate.
“Byron.”
It was Acrea. He was standing there, dressed for the Imperial Ball, his face forlorn.
Sue, her mind blanking, sent the servants inside and approached Acrea.
“Why are you here?”
“I don’t know.”
He was smiling, unlike last time. Sue, relieved, led him into the townhouse garden.
“Shall I invite you inside?”
“It’s okay.”
They strolled through the garden. The autumn wind was blowing, and Sue’s hair fluttered in the breeze. They didn’t talk much, but Sue felt strangely at peace.
“Byron.”
A gentle voice called out her name as she listened to the chirping of crickets. She turned to him.
“Happy birthday.”
happy birthday