Ch.220On Being Forgotten (5)

The dormitory wing of Gallimar Academy.

Among them, a residence prepared for royalty or foreign dignitaries.

Currently, it was a place where two girls were staying.

“……”

Elise was staring blankly out the window.

Her pupils, like summer, were filled with green hues that seemed to dissolve like paint.

Beside her, dark red hair flowed down.

The girl seemed lost in thought.

“Elise.”

After lingering by the window for a while, suddenly a voice came from behind.

Tap- A careful hand gently landed on the rose’s shoulder.

Only then did Elise come to her senses and turn around.

At the end of her gaze was dazzling platinum blonde hair.

Clean-colored blue eyes looked up at the girl.

“…Sister.”

Elise answered softly.

Perhaps she had been completely lost in thought.

Her distinctive green eyes showed slight surprise.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing… it’s nothing.”

“You’ve been strange lately. You keep spacing out.”

“You’re the same, aren’t you?”

“I’ve always been like that, though?”

“That’s true.”

Sharlotte responded with an expressionless face.

At her clever response, Elise smiled slightly.

However, her strangely weak appearance didn’t improve.

Sharlotte asked with a hint of concern.

“Did something happen?”

“I told you it’s nothing.”

Elise couldn’t answer easily.

But with Sharlotte’s gaze lingering beside her,

Finally, the rose spoke as if surrendering.

“It’s really nothing.”

She awkwardly brushed her hair back.

“Actually… I don’t know the reason myself. I just keep feeling off. I keep getting distracted, and feel empty somehow. No matter what I do, this restlessness won’t go away.”

A condition that had continued for several days.

Elise expressed her frustration.

Like something was caught between the gears of her heart.

The girl felt a terrible sense of foreign matter and malfunction.

“…I see.”

Sharlotte nodded quietly.

Her voice was calm, but her eyes were somewhat sunken.

“That’s difficult.”

Perhaps.

Was Sharlotte also suffering from a similar ailment as Elise?

At the surprisingly similar symptoms, the girl showed a slightly surprised expression.

Of course, she didn’t bother to express such agitation.

She was simply quiet.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? Lately I’ve been having nightmares too.”

“It might be aftereffects of your illness. Let’s get you examined.”

“Sister… I’ve already recovered from the mana stone disease. We were told there’s no possibility of relapse.”

“I’m still worried though.”

“That’s overprotection.”

“Yes… sorry.”

“I wasn’t trying to criticize you.”

Light conversation passing between them.

The daily life of the rose and the princess was that peaceful.

While holding onto a sense of loss as if they had forgotten something.

Nevertheless, the world continued to live day by day.

***

The faculty wing of Gallimar Academy.

Among them, a research office prepared for the head teacher.

Selena had been engrossed in work since morning.

She processed documents absentmindedly.

-■■■.

A hand turning over the processed documents.

As she moved them to her side, she suddenly realized something.

Her red eyes trembled.

“…Ah.”

It was a strange habit she had developed recently.

A gesture as if passing the documents to someone else, asking them to handle it.

However, no one was sitting at the end of those documents. Of course.

From the beginning, Selena had not kept anyone by her side, including assistants.

It was a reflection of her personality, preferring quietness.

“Hmm.”

Perhaps fatigue was building up.

Selena rubbed between her eyebrows.

Then, her eyes naturally turned to the shelf across from her.

There were dusty bottles of alcohol sitting there.

The thought crossed her mind to have a drink after a long time.

-■■, ■■■ ■■■■■■■.

But it remained just a thought.

She couldn’t tell the particular reason.

Just… she wasn’t in the mood for it.

Selena quietly dismissed her meaningless monologue.

‘How strange.’

She clearly remembered living immersed in alcohol.

But at some point, she had stopped drinking entirely.

The drunkard reminisced.

‘When did that start…’

She couldn’t remember.

Neither the reason she quit drinking, nor the exact time she quit.

There was only a blank space, as if cut out with scissors.

Only an inexplicable longing lingered in her ears.

“…Am I really tired?”

A muttered soliloquy for no reason.

It was to erase the sense of loss of something.

Her red eyes blinked for a moment, then she sighed.

Purple hair was disheveled on her shoulders.

-■■■.

The drunkard resumed her work with a faint breath.

***

Meanwhile, at the Astro headquarters.

A silver-haired girl was sitting in the director’s office.

“……”

The silence that settled in the space missed a moment.

Neria Lightni, the director of Astro.

Her eyes contained their unique silver color.

Scratch, scratch-

A hand moving neatly.

The pen tip processes documents one after another.

The firmly held pen shaft danced steadily.

-■■■ ■.

It was an ordinary day of work, nothing special.

Only the atmosphere was subdued.

The girl unconsciously bit her lip.

She was reminiscing about something.

No, to be precise, she was trying to reminisce.

“Ugh…”

However, a headache that came just then cut off the chain of thought.

Was it because of the interrupted flow? Her hand also stopped.

Neria put down her pen with a sigh.

Ink stained between her fingers.

“……”

A silence that missed a moment.

The scattered concentration wouldn’t gather easily.

She could only look down at the ink on her fingertips.

That blackness seemed to remind her of someone.

-■■■ ■■■ ■■■■.

An unpleasant throbbing colored her heart.

Wrinkles narrowed between her eyebrows.

The creeping depression was of unknown origin.

Neria closed her eyes and took a faint breath.

She felt a little dizzy.

“Why… am I like this?”

A complaint pronounced softly.

The confusion did not subside from the girl.

This overflow was not hers alone.

The fox was the same.

“Hah…!”

Whoosh-!

At the training ground of the Astro headquarters.

Irene swung her sword alone, brandishing flames.

Her orange hair was dyed a dazzling white.

Beside her, white phosphorus containing starlight danced brilliantly.

Sweat fell through the fluttering light.

Slash-!

A slash drawn with an intense explosive sound.

Immediately after, stars overlapped and the target shattered.

The girl was immersed in her sword.

-■■■ ■.

But anxiety lived in her heart.

A chest pain that kept jabbing at her chest.

Irene closed her eyes.

Scenes that kept flickering.

They flickered, but not even a trace of an image could be seen.

What remained after opening her eyes was just a momentary emotion and terrible emptiness.

“Haa, haa…”

Stopping for a moment, she caught her breath.

Dripping sweat obscured her vision.

The girl gripped her sword tightly as if frustrated.

But even she didn’t know what she was so frustrated about.

She just wanted to escape the helplessness and anger that enveloped her.

“…Damn it.”

Clang-.

She threw the sword to the ground.

The flames wavered, and her shoulders trembled.

The fox sat down in place.

It felt like a stone was weighing down on her heart.

‘Why.’

She couldn’t find the answer to that.

Irene was simply captivated by impulsive emotions.

***

Three days before the arrival of the demon god.

It was the night right after the date had changed.

“……”

Scratch, scratch-.

In the dawn where stars were silent and even moonlight was covered.

Even in such darkness, someone remained.

The figure hidden in darkness simply moved the pen calmly.

Behind the friction sound between paper and pen tip, only characters derived from ink remained.

At the first line, it was written:

[To my dear snake.]

It was none other than a letter.

A letter sent to, or left for, someone.

The hand inscribed letters with a neat handwriting.

If the aesthetics of falsehood is ever-changing, then the aesthetics of truth is eternally unchanging.