Ch.240Past Stories: Olivia Eleonora – 6

At first, I thought it was an accident.

That’s what I believed when an explosion occurred while Helena was conducting magical experiments with her fellow mages, killing one and leaving another with permanent disabilities.

Magic was an extremely unstable discipline, and mages dying from mana backflow or explosions due to incorrectly drawn magic circles was not uncommon. It ended with a warning to be more careful next time.

But when a second explosion occurred during Helena’s magical experiment, followed by a third, the mages gradually began to suspect something was amiss.

Fortunately, no one was injured or killed, but the fact that explosions had occurred at all was the problem.

Helena felt the same way. When the first explosion happened, she was filled with guilt, believing her mistake had injured and killed her colleagues. But as time passed, her suspicions grew.

Fortunately or unfortunately, no one suspected Helena. There was no reason for her to do such a thing, and other mages had thoroughly inspected the magic circles.

So who on earth was the culprit?

While the case remained a mystery to others, Helena had a fairly good idea who the perpetrator was. It seemed impossible—interfering with magic circles from a distance without showing oneself.

But sometimes, feelings and intuition perform better than objective evidence. Helena was certain that this incident was aimed at her.

It was Olivia, that woman.

That day, Helena went to find Olivia. She intended to confront her about the incidents and make it clear once and for all to stay away from Abel. This time, she had crossed the line too far.

It was the perfect opportunity for Helena, who had been looking for a reason to expel Olivia.

Bang, bang! Helena roughly pounded on Olivia’s door. The door creaked open. Without waiting for an invitation, she strode into the room.

The room was modest. A standard-sized bed, a wooden desk, and various magic books piled on top of it. That was all there was. It felt extremely empty.

Olivia, sitting at the desk, looked at Helena and curled up the corners of her mouth. It was a smile that seemed to mock her.

“What brings you here?”

“It’s you.”

“What is?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. It’s you.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.

“Are you going to deny it now? Fine, I’ll be direct. I’m asking if you’re the one who tampered with the magic circles I was using for experiments, causing the explosions.”

“You think I caused those explosions?”

Olivia laughed ominously. Seeing that smile, Helena felt a chill run down her spine involuntarily. Her body trembled. An inexplicable coldness crept over her.

“I don’t understand why you suspect me. If the magic circles were altered, there should be evidence left behind.”

“There is no evidence. The magic circles were completely obliterated in the blast. But you know that no one else could have done it.”

Trying to shake off the eerie feeling, Helena steeled herself and took a step forward. Olivia slowly closed the magic book she had been reading.

“Hmm… no one else could have done it…”

Olivia rose with a sinister smile. She pushed her chair under the desk, tilted her head with a creaking motion, and met Helena’s eyes. Her eyes curved into crescent moons.

When those purple irises turned toward her, Helena felt as if she had been stripped naked and thrown away somewhere. Her vision blurred, and her legs trembled uncontrollably.

It was a primal fear that stimulated human instinct and settled deep in the heart. Something was truly, truly wrong. How could her body tremble so much just from meeting someone’s gaze?

“Olivia, you—”

“Eleonora.”

Olivia cut off Helena’s words sharply. A chilling coldness flowed from her voice.

“I have no reason to be called by my name by you. And I have an excellent surname, Eleonora. So, would you please call me that?”

“…That’s your surname?”

“Of course. A magnificent, lovely, dignified resonance created just for me.”

Helena was sure she had heard before that Olivia had no surname, only the name Olivia. Had she created a surname for herself?

For now, that wasn’t important, so she decided to let it go. Helena gathered her courage and stared back at the purple eyes glaring at her.

“Fine, whatever. I don’t care if your surname is Eleonora or Nelenora or whatever.”

Olivia’s expression crumpled. Helena clearly felt the murderous intent mixed in with the sinister gaze, but she didn’t care. Let her try to kill her if she dared—the culprit would be exposed soon enough.

“I know you’re the one who tampered with the magic circles. I can guess why you did it too. But let me make one thing clear.”

Helena growled.

“Abel is mine, so don’t even think about touching him. I liked him first, and I approached him first. He’s not someone the likes of you can touch.”

“…”

Olivia remained silent. Instead, the light in her violet eyes gradually died out. The upturned corners of her mouth stretched savagely to the sides.

Helena also said nothing. She had already delivered her ultimatum and now only needed to wait for a response.

Silence enveloped the two. The room fell into stillness. With a bit of exaggeration, one could almost hear the sound of eyeballs rolling.

Olivia was the first to break the silence. She opened her mouth with a voice tinged with mockery.

“There’s an old saying: ‘A rolling stone displaces a fixed stone.'”

Helena tilted her head at Olivia’s sudden mention of an old proverb. Before she could even think about what she meant, Olivia continued.

“But isn’t it the fault of the fixed stone for falling for the rolling stone?”

The mockery on her face deepened.

“How loosely must it have been fixed, how pathetic and miserable a life must it have lived to be dislodged by a rolling stone when it was already in the ground first? Don’t you think so, Ms. Helena?”

Helena immediately understood the meaning of Olivia’s metaphor. The rolling stone was Olivia, and the fixed stone was Helena.

In other words, she had no intention of giving up on Abel.

“I see. So that’s your answer, Olivia?”

Helena’s face contorted. Olivia’s crescent-shaped eyes filled with savagery.

“I clearly told you to call me Eleonora. I also said I don’t want to be called by my name by others. This is the second time.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why should I?”

“Because it’s the surname my master bestowed upon me.”

“What? Master?”

“Yes. My master.”

There was no need to think deeply about who this “master” referred to. It was obvious. Helena retorted irritably.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Why would Abel be your master? He hasn’t taught you anything.”

Olivia gave a chilling smile, then strode forward. Her aura was so menacing that Helena unconsciously retreated a few steps.

“No. Abel is definitely my master.”

“Nonsense.”

“Ah, I see. You ‘still’ don’t understand. Why he is my master.”

“Still? What does that even mean—”

Helena’s mouth froze as she was about to ask what that meant. She had seen the clearly purple pupils momentarily change to black.

Of course, it happened too quickly. But there was no doubt the color of her eyes had changed. Helena was certain of what she saw. It wasn’t a mistake.

A black that somehow reminded her of Abel.

“…Why?”

“What?”

“Why do you like someone you’ve barely met? It’s been at most two months since you were sent here as a ‘gift.'”

“Like? Me? The master?”

The eyes that had begun to show some life darkened again.

“You’re wrong.”

“…?”

“I don’t ‘like’ the master. I ‘love’ him.”

“Are you playing word games now?”

“Does this sound like a word game to you?”

Olivia closed the distance again. Helena hesitated momentarily, then gritted her teeth and responded.

“Yes, a game. The very fact that someone like you claims to like Abel is a joke. What has Abel ever done for you? At most, he just changed your bandages—”

“At most?”

The corners of her mouth curved upward.

“That’s not true. You know that it wasn’t just changing bandages, don’t you? You know how much care and love the master poured into me, don’t you?”

Those eyes began to turn black again. Indeed, it wasn’t a mistake. The once-purple irises were now filled with a pitch-black abyss.

“I saw everything. I saw everything. I saw how hard the master worked for me, how much care he put into me, how much he loved me. Changing bandages every two hours, ventilating the room, changing blankets, consistently cleaning my body, and preparing meals three times a day without fail! He did this for a month. A whole month. Without sleeping, without eating, pouring all that time solely into me. If this isn’t love, what is? Is this something one can do without love? No. Of course not. How could I not love the master after he did all that for me?”

The words came out so long and fast that it was confusing, but the gist of what she just said was this:

That woman was under the delusion that Abel had cared for her out of love.

“Can you stop spouting nonsense?”

It wasn’t even worth listening to anymore.

“Abel is a kind person, so of course he would. And he’s taken care of me just as attentively before, you know? By your logic, Abel already loves me, doesn’t he? Oh dear, it seems there’s someone who got there first. Now, like a proper loser—”

“No.”

A sinister smile appeared on her face.

“It will disappear soon.”

“…What?”

Sensing something ominous, Helena hesitated. Click. She heard the door closing behind her. She turned around. Something black was creeping up the door.

“…What is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

The sinister smile deepened. It wasn’t just the door. The ceiling, walls, and even the floor were being consumed by something black and crawling.

The aura emanating from Olivia was unsettling. Helena gritted her teeth. She had no choice. Even if it meant killing that woman, she needed to escape first.

Helena drew a magic circle. Blue light leaked from her hands. She intended to completely blow up the room. She could protect herself with a defensive magic circle anyway.

“Kihihit.”

But as Olivia let out a strange laugh and snapped her fingers, the magic circle immediately disappeared.

“What?!”

Before Helena could even express her shock, Olivia, who had approached right in front of her, grabbed her by the throat. Black eyes filled with madness looked down at Helena mockingly.

The atmosphere had completely changed from just moments ago. Even as her consciousness faded from lack of oxygen, Helena felt an instinctive terror.

It was different.

The being before her was not the Olivia that Helena knew.

“You don’t know how much I love the master. Someone like you can’t understand my feelings, and you never will. Only I am qualified. Only I am qualified to love the master. What can you do for the master? Can you create a world for him? Can you invite him to live in a world just for the two of you? How far can you go for love? Huh? Can you twist the past? Can you read the future? You’re jealous? Do you even know what jealousy is? Have you ever been jealous of the master’s life? Have you ever been jealous that the master doesn’t live in the world I created? Have you ever been jealous that he spent time with another Olivia Eleonora, not me, not this Olivia Eleonora? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

“Kuk… Kehuk… Kek…”

Helena couldn’t make any sense of what she was saying. A world just for the two of them? Twisting the past? Another Olivia Eleonora? What did all of that mean?

“I’m not going to kill you yet. Because I haven’t finished living as Olivia yet. After I cover up all the actions Olivia committed with myself, then I’ll kill you. You have to do everything exactly the same. I’ll do everything exactly the same too. That’s the only way I can completely overlay the master with myself. Good, right? Right? Huh? Someone like you can die between the master and me. Someone like you got between me and the master!”

Helena’s consciousness grew increasingly dim. After making a final choking sound, Helena collapsed to the floor. Her face had turned extremely pale.

Olivia, who had been staring blankly at the sight, waved her hand.