Chapter 25: Tears and Rage: Arthur’s Emotional Outburst

After much trial and tribulation, we managed to enter the cafe.

And after further trials, we even managed to order…

““

“Here’s your… I’ll just leave this here!”

Damn it. I need to say something.

The atmosphere is so heavy that even the staff is running away. How can I start a conversation without shocking the protagonist?

“Hmm…”

I fidget with my silver hair, twirling it around my finger, lost in thought. Only the two kids I brought to introduce to Arthur seem uncomfortable. They suddenly brought someone else and now they’re playing the victim?

Well, as a teacher, I feel a pang of guilt for making my students uncomfortable, but

I really have nothing to say about this situation.

Finally, after a long silence, Arthur thankfully broke the ice, but not in a good way.

“Saintess…you say.”

“It was a kind of…nickname in the group I was with. You don’t have to worry about…”

Clink, clink.

Lost in thought, Arthur stirs his drink with a straw, not taking a sip.

Meanwhile, his eyes scan me from head to toe.

First, my snow-white hair.

Then, my clear, water-like skin.

Then…ah, he just looked at my chest.

“Mr. Arthur?”

This bastard.

“…Sigh.”

Look at him sighing after being caught. He’s so clumsy at changing the subject.

Arthur’s ears redden slightly.

He slowly raises his head and meets my gaze.

His deep blue eyes lock with mine, the color of the brightest star.

In that fleeting exchange, his eyes change so much.

If eyes could speak, I would have received a year’s worth of information.

Finally, Arthur exhales and speaks,

“That appearance… it’s undeniably the Saintess. Why are you denying it?”

“I’m not that per… ugh, never mind.”

Saintess… Saintess… Just hearing the word makes my trauma resurface.

Right now, it’s a word I definitely shouldn’t hear.

All the trauma has ended, but the headaches persist.

I need to cut off all possibilities, just in case.

But what was our protagonist thinking?

“Saintess? Do you remember anything?”

He continued to fixate on the word “Saintess” as he approached me.

Without realizing it, I…

Thump.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“…Okay.”

Arthur, pushed back, seemed shocked once again and slumped back into his chair.

Ethan and Alex continued to watch our drama with trembling eyes.

Arthur looked at me with a serious gaze.

Then, as if playing his trump card, he slowly opened his mouth.

“I didn’t want to bring this up… but would you mind answering?”

“…Yes, what is it?”

Arthur took a breath, composed himself, and said with a serious expression,

“You have a small mole on your chest, right?”

“Cough! Hack, hack, hack!”

Ethan and Alex choked and coughed simultaneously.

The most dumbfounded person right now was me.

My face, neck, and ears… I’m burning up everywhere.

What is this crazy bastard saying? And how does he even know?

Even I only recently discovered it while bathing…

Arthur quickly added, as if to clear up the misunderstanding,

“When she learned one of my secrets… she told me about it, saying I shouldn’t be so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be ridi… There’s no… there’s nothing like that. That… a mole on my left breast…”

Damn it. I’m so embarrassed I could die.

Fanning my burning face, I clutched my drink.

Arthur said to me,

“I… didn’t say it was on the left.”

Crack.

The drink in my hand instantly froze solid.

“…There’s nothing there. Really, there isn’t.”

Alex and Ethan, not touching their drinks, stared at us.

Arthur, with an even more suspicious expression, said,

“…She unconsciously used ice magic when she was embarrassed.”

“No, I’m telling you… it’s not there…!”

Why is he so persistent!

I put the frozen drink aside and stood up abruptly.

Ethan and Alex, anticipating something, retreated to a corner.

“And she would stand up when she was slightly angry, and if the people around her were scared…”

“Ah! Sorry, Alex, Ethan. I’m not going to do anything…”

Arthur said, pointing at me.

His eyes were full of certainty.

“…She apologized like that. Sister Ileia.”

“I believe you know my name starts with Rei…”

I made a mistake…!

Even if I hurriedly covered my mouth, I couldn’t take back what I had already said.

Arthur closed his mouth upon hearing my words.

His eyes were moist, as if tears were about to fall.

“Why are you denying it? Do you hate me? I wanted to die after you died.”

“Arthur…”

“How do I know your real name? It’s the only piece of information I got after pestering the Headmaster.

After you died… no, after I thought you died, I lived like a madman for months.

It’s the only information the Headmaster gave me out of pity.

And how much… how much… I’ve lived covering my ears every time someone said your name, trying to remember your last words. Damn it, why? Why?”

Arthur’s tears stopped.

Not because they stopped flowing.

His sadness had transformed into the rage of “not knowing.”

As if there was no one around but me and him,

he spoke like an actor on stage.

“Where were you? What were you doing? Couldn’t you have at least let me know you were alive? Damn it! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Senior, please calm…”

“Alex, this is none of your business. Shut up.”

A kid who couldn’t even say the word “idiot” for fear of hurting someone,

is yelling at his close junior to shut up.

But.

Something inside me.

A remnant of my past past life, perhaps.

My instincts screamed.

“Oh, is that so? You were having quite a bit of fun with the girls around you, weren’t you? You even kissed the crown princess? If you loved someone, shouldn’t you have stopped that too? Do you know how much of a hypocrite you sound like right now, Arthur?”

“No, Il…”

“Shut up! You told my student to shut up…! My impression of you has completely plummeted. I’m totally disgusted. Why are you pretending to be so devoted when you were having fun with other girls after I died?! Ah, there’s nothing you can do now that I’m dead, so you were going after other girls, but now that I’ve appeared, you’re acting like this? You…delinquent!”

“Delinquent” is the harshest word the Saintess allowed herself to use towards students.

Arthur, well aware of this, seemed shocked and opened and closed his mouth.

Serves you right, you damn alpha male.

The remnants of the Saintess inside me are finally earning their keep.

Though I didn’t give her any food…

No, but.

I feel like I said too much unnecessary stuff.

Besides, my student…when I died…

Ah,

F*cking Saintess.

So useless.

.

.

.

“Please calm down. I got a little carried away and said a lot of unnecessary things.”

“…Okay.”

We agreed (although Arthur was half out of his mind) not to talk about the Saintess anymore, and

Alex and Ethan, holding hands, rejoiced at finally escaping the hellish atmosphere.

Step.

The shape of my foot is imprinted white as I step out of the cafe.

“Ah.”

“It’s snowing.”

Arthur reaches out as if to catch the snow, and snow falls from the sky.

As if to cover the ugliness of the past, white snow melts in Arthur’s hand and scatters.

Suddenly, a combination of letters comes to mind.

Something both familiar and unfamiliar.

A poem.

“The snow falling from the sky has never felt warmth,”

Arthur looks at me.

“Until it lands in the hand of a weary traveler.”

Arthur approaches me.

“The pure white snow, feeling its first and last warmth,”

Arthur stands before me.

I look into his eyes and say,

“Leaves a single teardrop and falls asleep in the traveler’s hand.”

I smile.

Arthur smiles too.

His smile is the joy of confirmation.

My smile is a meaningless, unconscious smile.

We know our smiles are different.

Still, we smile foolishly.

I don’t know why.

I think that idiot protagonist would have smiled even if I cursed here.

I’m slowly regaining my senses.

“…Phew.”

Isn’t it a bit cringey to be reciting poetry I made up at this age?

Did I get sentimental because of the snow? What was I doing?

I brushed away the melancholy from my eyes and said,

“Arthur, forget it. Whatever it is.”

Arthur readily accepted.

“Yes. Then, could you tell me how I should address you?”

“Hmm…”

I pondered for a moment.

Should I create another title for him to call me?

It felt too awkward to tell him to call me Saintess after all this.

I slowly raised my head.

It’s snowing heavily.

The approaching cold winter feels real.

But the trials awaiting me will be even colder and harsher.

In this desperate situation, wouldn’t it be alright for at least one person to know my ‘concept’?

Someone I can confide in and occasionally have trivial conversations with.

I pulled his ear towards my mouth.

And whispered slowly,

“Raven Pest. That’s my name. Student Arthur.”