episode_0170

“You… what do you think of your sister?”

An unexpected question.

Unsure of his intentions, I had to answer with a brief silence.

Ruthka seemed to sense my subtle caution and muttered, as if asking me to let down my guard.

“There’s no particular meaning.”

“I haven’t exactly doubted you, but the question was rather sudden.”

“Bear with it if it’s uncomfortable. I’ve only come to exchange a few trivial words.”

“……Hearing that only makes me more suspicious.”

I tilted my head.

Nevertheless, his blue eyes silently gazed at me.

Doubt couldn’t help but well up inside me.

‘What is this?’

Did he eat something wrong?

To suddenly show up and make small talk.

Early in our enrollment, after he argued with Emilia because of me, he was petty enough not to exchange a single word with me.

He even seemed to avoid lectures that overlapped, as if he didn’t want to see my face.

What prompted the guy who detested me so much to approach now?

I had a rough idea, but… it likely meant the situation was that bad.

I calmly organized my thoughts while listening intently.

The guy, who had been silent for a while, soon asked again.

“……So, what’s your answer to the question?”

“Well…”

I paused briefly.

If there’s no particular meaning… it must mean he wants me to answer exactly as I feel.

Although questions about the question itself still remained.

My mouth didn’t hesitate to answer.

“She’s someone admired by countless people.”

Emilia was like a star.

A star that captured the attention of others.

Although she herself didn’t seem to realize it, she was an inspiration to many students.

In some ways, she was even more ardently admired than the Princess sisters.

That was how true the vain girl’s beauty was.

‘A person of many talents, you could say.’

Her unique winter-like aura.

Her youthful yet mature appearance.

One of the top five talents of this generation.

The successor who would one day stand at the center of the Ducal family.

In the eyes of others, she was no different from a flower on a cliff.

Like a camellia blooming proudly even in a field of pure white snow.

“At the same time, she’s also a warm person.”

The villainess’s actions differed from the original story.

She had broken her fate of an early exit and carved out her own story.

She even became inseparable best friends with the protagonist, who she was supposed to be hostile towards.

And above all.

—Commoner, run out the door right now.

—I’ll buy some time here… so you must get out alive.

—I won’t be able to hold out for very long.

In that moment of extreme desperation, she showed a new choice.

It instilled in me the conviction that this world also deserved to change.

She was practically the person who provided the basis for salvaging thousands of accumulated bad endings.

Therefore, I smiled faintly.

“Above all, to me… she is a person I am grateful for, and precious.”

“……”

My honest sentiments.

Ruthka, having heard my words, fell silent again.

His deeply sunken eyes seemed to be troubled by something.

Just then, his blue hair fluttered in the passing spring breeze.

Only then did the boy add a question.

“In that case…”

The air seemed to freeze.

A chill reverberation spread.

“If your sister were to fall into difficulty, what would you do?”

A quite direct question.

However, I merely answered without hesitation.

Because true feelings require no room for doubt.

“I would be by her side to support her.”

“Why?”

“Because like countless others, I too admire her.”

“……Is that so.”

An unreadable expression.

Ruthka held his silence for a long time.

As if walking through a complex conflict, his blue pupils repeatedly wavered.

The steadfast silence broke as the boy stood up.

He rose from the bench.

“Yes…”

A murmur that brushed past my ears.

The boy’s words flowed as if about to reach me, yet not quite.

“I’m the same.”

The same.

What could that mean?

Before I could even ask, the boy was silently leaving the park.

I watched his retreating figure reflected in the scattering season.

The lonely, disheveled blue hair of a certain boy.

***

The somewhat unexpected conversation with Ruthka.

It was quite a concerning point.

Because I still didn’t know about his struggles.

Since I needed hints for my deductions, I had a brief private talk with Emilia.

We were sitting side by side in the dormitory, just the two of us.

The faint presence allowed us to sense each other.

Clink-.

It had been quite a while since we had spent time alone.

After she became close with Regia, they always stuck together like a set.

However, recently I had felt she was keeping her distance.

The blue-haired villainess quietly began.

“……You’re curious about Ruthka?”

“That’s right.”

Her blue eyes blinked as if she didn’t understand.

Then, her delicate brows furrowed.

“Did you perhaps hear anything from Ruthka?”

“Nothing particularly special.”

“More precisely…?”

“He asked what I thought of the Duchess-nim.”

“What? Th-then what did you answer?”

“I explained that to me, she was someone I was grateful for, and also precious.”

“Pr-precious person…”

Her cheeks flushed subtly.

I suppressed a mischievous urge and stroked the vain girl’s head.

The girl flinched but meekly accepted my touch.

The villainess, her face hot, calmed her breathing.

Soon after, she cleared her throat lightly and spoke.

“Ahem…! Ruthka is a good kid.”

“Just a good person, you say.”

“He tends to be a bit eccentric when it comes to family… but his true nature is pure.”

“He certainly seemed concerned about the Duchess-nim. As for ‘pure’… I’m not sure.”

“Even if he looks that way, he has a rather innocent side.”

A soft chuckle escaped her.

Before I knew it, Emilia’s gaze had deepened.

As if she was replaying a past scene in her mind.

“Ruthka really loved heroic tales.”

“Heroic tales, you mean…?”

“Exactly. Wandering knights, mages from the red-light district, adventurers of the land… he loved any story about heroes without discrimination. So much so that I even teased him for being childish.”

“He had tastes quite contrary to his cold demeanor.”

“Perhaps his father’s influence was significant.”

The former head of Benity, who had led numerous wars.

Ruthka, hearing of his father’s valor, is said to have always fostered a yearning for heroes.

As the child of one of the few Archmages and a cryomancer on the continent, he too apparently aspired to be a hero.

She said she was even worried by how immature he seemed…

Was he quite a troublemaker as a child?

‘But.’

Around the time he turned fifteen, his demeanor reportedly darkened significantly.

It was probably due to the sudden passing of the Duke and Duchess.

They had lost their parents in an unforeseen accident.

Four years had passed since then.

The boy had also changed as much as the years had passed.

“Many things have changed.”

The villainess’s expression darkened.

Her lips, which had hesitated for a moment, continued the story.

“You… you probably already know this, but the last attack wasn’t just about cultists.”

“So the Duchess-nim knew as well.”

“Although there was no specific evidence to put my family under suspicion… I’m speculating that my family was also involved in the attack’s background.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“That’s why I’m afraid. Afraid that people around me might get hurt because of me.”

“How can you blame yourself? It was merely a tragedy beyond your control.”

“It’s a family I should have led from the start. It happened because I lacked the power.”

“Just because it wasn’t controlled doesn’t mean you need to bear the entire responsibility.”

“Regia, Irene, and even you… all almost went through something terrible.”

The girl, uncharacteristically, called the pilot and the fox by their names.

Even if she didn’t show it, she seemed to have suffered a great psychological shock.

Could her subtle distancing from the group have also stemmed from this guilt?

The vain girl looked up at only the blue hanging at the edge of the sky with complex eyes.

Beyond the blue surface, emotions swelled.

I asked quietly.

“May I ask what’s happening within the Benity family?”

“……”

“Seeking help from outside…”

“It’s impossible. We can’t escape.”

The villainess’s answer was self-deprecating, or perhaps melancholic.

Even resignation was reflected in her delicate voice.

It was as if struggling no longer mattered.

I asked, as if to contradict her.

“If it’s all meaningless, then why tell me?”

“Well… I don’t know either.”

Her hand fidgeted with the teacup.

Beyond the already cooled surface, only the girl herself was reflected perfectly.

The ripples that followed shattered the thinly laid mirror.

The answer that came at the end was just as faint.

“It’s just, if it’s you…”

Her voice subtly faded.

The volume was similarly close to zero.

“I thought perhaps you could save us from this cesspool.”

It was a promise made long ago.

The words said with a pinky promise to be on her side.

I gazed at her faintly trembling shoulders.

Emilia, who had a momentarily blank expression, soon shook her head as if she had said something unnecessary.

A sense of emptiness flickered in her eyes as she forced herself to speak.

“Forget it. I’ve said something useless.”

“No.”

I took her hand.

“If you wish it, I will gladly step forward.”

Because that was the promise between you and me.

That we would do our best for each other.

That I would be a good helper.

And that, in turn, I would protect you.

My hand, extended gently, took the villainess’s hand.

“Just… quietly.”

My fingers intertwined softly with hers.

The girl had a confused look, but she didn’t pull away from the intertwined warmth.

Instead, she simply relaxed, as if she needed somewhere to lean.

Before long, we were sitting as if embracing each other.

Our breaths mingled, and the gap was so close that our scents seemed about to melt together.

Our touching skin added a sense of fragility to that closeness.

I deliberately pressed my lips against her ear.

So that my whisper would melt into her breath.

“You just need to trust me.”

“……”

Her focus blurred faintly.

Emilia remained silent, without any particular reaction, just faintly.

As if momentarily captivated by some whisper.

I smiled at the girl.

“Don’t worry.”

I will stop your misfortune.

The serpent’s whisper, melting into that fleeting moment.

I embraced the trembling villainess for a long time.