episode_0022

Alice took Arthur’s hand, who had become mentally unstable, and headed to the hospital.

“Where are you going now?”

“To go to the hospital.”

“I don’t want to go, but there’s a place I want to go right now.”

Arthur was acting out of the ordinary, so Alice eventually decided to deceive him.

“That’s not it. I’m just a little sick. So let’s just stop by the hospital for a bit and then go.”

Arthur began to look at Alice with a worried expression on his face.

“Aris, are you sick? Where does it hurt?”

“Is it okay..? Hey, let’s go to the hospital first!”

It was a lie that even a ten-year-old child wouldn’t be fooled by, but Arthur, who wasn’t in a normal state, believed Alice’s words at face value.

… … …

Arriving at the Academy’s hospital, Alice sat Arthur down on the waiting table and waited for her turn.

-Ding!

After a while, when Alice confirmed that it was her turn, she asked Arthur to wait for a moment and went into the examination room.

-Bam!

As Aris came out of the examination room, Arthur quickly approached her.

“How are you..? It doesn’t hurt much, right?”

“Yeah..thank goodness you’ll get better soon, but more than that, aren’t you thirsty? Want a glass of water?”

Arthur, who had not had anything to drink since morning, was thirsty, and he felt relieved at Alice’s words and took a sip of the water.

Of course, if it had been someone else, it would have been suspicious, but Arthur accepted it without any suspicion because it was ‘Iris’ who had handed him the water.

-Gulp, gulp.

After making sure Arthur drank all the water, Alice sat him down on a nearby chair.

“Shall we take a quick break and go?”

“Yeah..”

Arthur suddenly felt sleepy and sat down, blinking his eyes. He ended up falling asleep leaning on Alice’s shoulder.

“…”

Alice began to check if Arthur was truly asleep by poking his face.

“Arthur, wake up! ”

“… … ”

After confirming that Arthur was completely asleep, Alice carried Arthur to the examination room.

After entering the examination room and laying Arthur down on the bed, the doctor came over to him.

“Then let me check first.”

The doctor began to take out various medical tools from his pocket.

“Hmm…”

The doctor began checking Arthur’s condition with several magical tools, focusing on the head.

The doctor, who had been examining for a while, took away his magical tools and opened his mouth.

“What should I say about this? First of all, the patient’s condition is not that good.”

“What’s wrong? Is it treatable?”

The doctor began to look slightly troubled by Alice’s words.

“Treatment is possible, but there is a possibility of relapse.”

“And to elaborate on the current condition, the patient’s brain is not functioning properly due to continuous stress. Therefore, if he is stressed again, the condition may get worse.”

“What about stress…?”

“All stress, of course, from schoolwork, inferiority complex, and other factors, right? But there’s something that bothers me a little…”

“Looking at the test results of the magic tool… it is similar to someone who has been tortured for a long time. Usually, in these cases, the will to live is lost and many people commit suicide…”

The doctor, whose words were trailing off, began to look at Alice with suspicious eyes.

“That..That! I’m her girlfriend.. But lately we only meet up to eat together, and sometimes we only go on dates… I didn’t know it was this serious..”

“After all… It’s possible that the patient has been hiding it… So, for now, you need to be careful.”

With those words, the doctor handed over a bag of medicine.

“Take one tablet a day. Be sure to take it every day.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

After taking the medicine bag, Alice carried Arthur on her back and headed to Arthur’s dormitory room.

… … …

“Ugh…”

Arthur opened his eyes in his room and looked to see Alice sitting on a chair.

“When did I come back to my room…”

Alice answered Arthur’s words.

“When I stopped by the hospital earlier, you were sleeping because you were tired, so I just carried you. You seemed to be sleeping soundly.”

“I see.. Thank you, Aris.”

-Rustling.

Then, Alice took something out of her pocket and started handing it to Arthur.

“What is this?”

“Hey.. It’s a nutritional supplement! You looked tired earlier and recently.. Take one a day and you’ll be fine.”

“Okay, I’ll eat well!”

Without a doubt about Alice’s words, Arthur swallowed one pill.

“… ”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No.. Then I’ll go.”

Alice tried to get up to leave, but she couldn’t move.

When he looked back, Arthur’s left hand was holding his arm.

“Don’t go…”

“I should go back too, Arthur…”

Arthur looked sad when he heard that he was going back.

“Are you trying to leave me too..?”

No matter how much Arthur was not in a normal state, it was not something I could just ignore.

“What do you mean… I’m abandoning you?”

“You always say that! You’ve been avoiding me lately!!”

“No! Why am I avoiding you!”

‘Surely… Are you saying everything you’ve been thinking right now?’

Alice began to worry as Arthur’s words continued to come in without any filtering.

For now, it was right to appease Arthur and quickly go back, but there was also the expectation that if he went a little further, he might hear stories he didn’t even know about.

Arthur became angry at Alice’s answer.

“That’s right!! Do you think I’m an idiot?”

‘I’m an idiot now..’

“You used to be so rough with me every night, but this time, you ignored me even though I had the courage to seduce you!!”

“No, that’s your normal state..”

“Don’t lie! You’re saying you refuse even though I cry and tell you to stop, and you’re forcing me to do it?”

“No.. That’s different. In the first place, didn’t you enjoy it too, Arthur?”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about!! What kind of man in the world does that more than 10 times!! Even though it was so hard every day that I thought I was going to die, I endured it because of you!!”

“…”

‘I really didn’t know… Arthur was having a hard time… I thought he was just trying to seduce me.’

“Ahem… I’m sorry Arthur… This time, I held back because you seemed to be having a hard time… So please don’t misunderstand.”

Alice apologized and hugged Arthur.

“… ”

Arthur didn’t respond, but he slowly stroked her head.

-Swish. Swish.

After a while, Arthur’s mouth opened first.

“Can I really trust you? You won’t abandon me…?”

“Of course! I promised you back then, Arthur, that I would be your reason for living. So will you believe me?”

“Okay..I’ll believe you.”

Alice, holding Arthur, thought to herself.

‘He’s become like a child… Maybe Arthur will be better than I thought…’

“…Aris, will you stay with me today..?”

“Okay, let’s sleep together for the first time in a while today.”

First, Arthur lay down on the bed, and Alice lay down next to him.

Before he knew it, Alice’s hand was wrapped around Arthur’s waist.

“!!”

“What are you doing!! I’m just going to sleep today!!”

Arthur rolled over to the side and started attacking Alice with a pillow.

“Oh no!! This is just a habit…”

“I’m sorry Arthur, I’m sorry!!”

After a long attack, Arthur finally calmed down and lay down next to Alice again.

“Just stay right next to me! Okay?”

“Ah, I see..”

After hearing Alice’s answer, Arthur closed his eyes in relief, and Alice also fell asleep next to Arthur.

… … …

The next morning.

Alice’s eyes automatically opened at the feeling of weight, and when she looked to the side, she saw Arthur sleeping while hugging her tightly.

“I’m not a teddy bear…”

But contrary to what he said, he actually liked it.

‘Sometimes this isn’t so bad..’

After feeling Arthur’s body temperature for a moment, Alice carefully got up from the bed and started preparing to go to class.

“Um..Arthur sent the medical certificate to the department, so he doesn’t have to attend class..”

A good idea came to Alice and she took out a piece of paper and started writing.

“Will Arthur see this?”

The paper said that I had to go to class and rest in my room and that I would be back around lunchtime.

Alice placed the paper on the desk so that it could be seen clearly, and looked at Arthur’s face once before leaving the room.

Alice, who remembered Arthur attacking her last night, decided to play a little prank.

“I also get hurt when I keep hearing that kind of thing.”

Alice approached Arthur and moved the blindfold Arthur was wearing to cover his other eye.

‘If I do this, will you wake up surprised? It’s yesterday’s punishment, Arthur!’

Alice, who had been imagining what would happen later while looking at Arthur, quietly smiled and left the room.

Of course, if it had been a normal situation, it might have been a joke that would have passed without incident, but Alice, oblivious to Arthur’s condition, didn’t think that far ahead.

… … …

As soon as morning classes were over, Alice headed straight to Arthur’s room.

-Bam!

“Arthur! I’m here.”

When I opened the door and went in, what I saw was not Arthur, but a room in disarray.

All the furniture, such as chairs and desks, had fallen over, and objects were rolling around on the floor.

At that moment, Aris saw Arthur sitting in the corner of the room.

Alice, sensing that Arthur’s condition was worsening again, cautiously approached Arthur.

“Arthur..? Are you okay?”

Arthur raised his head at Arisui’s voice.

“Arisya..? What should I do..”

“Ugh…. I can’t see in front of me!!! I can’t see anything!!”

Arthur began to speak while crying.

“… ”

Alice was left speechless by Arthur’s appearance, not realizing that his own eyes were covered by a blindfold.

‘Does stress decrease your intelligence?’

Of course, this wasn’t what mattered now. If Arthur found out that he had been playing a prank and got himself into this situation, it might really be the end.

‘Fuck…’

Although Aris rarely swore in her daily life, the situation she was in was one that no one could understand.

‘This is just a frontal assault.’

Alice, with a strong mind, took off Arthur’s blindfold.

“!!”

“Huh…? What is it… I can see ahead of me…”

Alice showed Arthur the blindfold she had removed.

“Arthur.. You couldn’t see because the blindfold was covering your eyes. So don’t worry..”

I hugged Arthur tightly along with the words. Arthur is not in his right mind right now, so once I hug him and whisper words of love, he calms down easily.

After a while, Alice felt that Arthur had calmed down and released him.

“…”

But Arthur was looking at Alice with his eyes narrowed.

“Aris, but why was the blindfold covering my eyes..?”

Along with the words, Arthur began poking Alice’s stomach with his fingers.

‘It’s finally here… I have to wake up!’

Alice answered with a calm face.

“Hmm… I think he fell asleep and went back to sleep?”

But Arthur did not give in easily.

“I’ve never had that happen before..?”

“Besides, since this is fixed well, it’s impossible for it to happen unless someone secretly put it back…”

So Arthur suddenly started talking logically as if he had returned to normal, and slowly began to pressure Alice.

‘Arthur..? You’re actually okay, aren’t you?’

Of course, looking at his strangely hazy eyes and his inability to keep his hands and feet still, it seemed that his current condition was not good.

Eventually, Alice decided to use her last resort.

‘I tried not to do this…’

Alice grabbed Arthur’s face with both hands as he spoke, and brought his lips to hers and kissed him.

“Phuat..! What are you doing!!”

Arthur resisted, but Alice grabbed his face again and kissed him.

At some point Arthur stopped resisting and his face began to relax.

“Arthur, do you trust me now? There’s no way I would do that.”

But Arthur did not give in easily.

“But.. no matter how I look at itㅡ”

Alice kissed Arthur hard again, despite his nonsense.

‘Why does this keep happening? I’m sure he must have fallen asleep!’

Arthur was also confused by Aris’ shameless attitude that reached the point where he was even deceiving himself, and eventually gave in to Aris.

“Do you believe me now? I’m sure he must have fallen asleep.”

“Uh…Yeah, that’s right, I think so..”

Arthur completely lost his normal judgment due to Alice’s continuous gaslighting.

‘Phew… Thank goodness. I really have to be careful from now on.’

After that, Alice felt her body heating up, whether it was because of the relief of having overcome the crisis or because of the kiss with Arthur.

In fact, it was because of the strange pleasure she got from seeing Arthur shedding tears and suffering and seeing Arthur giving in to her and giving her the answer she wanted, but Alice, who did not notice this, simply calmly cooled her head and vowed to quickly heal Arthur and return to her normal daily life.